8.94S 


Clark 
First  church  in  Buffalo 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

George  M.  Plough 


®^  Jjirfit  djltuith  in  guftltf. 


y/Jem>eiea  oi  mc     ^i/enma  o/  es^/.    Ja,    /(^^^. 


|ll)  Mailer  O^Iarhc,  g.  D. 


Mtof/colo: 


7jS62 


/ 


7 


FRANKLIN  STEAM  PRINTING  HOUSE, 

THOMAS,  TYPOGRAPHER, 


®abU  of  dfontentji 


Page. 

Introduction, 5 

Half  Cerftury  Discourse, 11 

Buffalo  Gazette, 11 

Young  Ladies'  School, 11 

Ebenczer  "Walden's  ]\I  arriage, 12 

Organization  of  the  First  Church, 13 

"Winne  —  Middaugh  —  EzekiolLane  —  Johnston 13 

Palmer's,  first  tavern  in  Buffalo, 13 

Asa  Ransom, 13 

Tax  Roll  in  1789, 11 

Buffalo  Village  laid  out  in  1801, lo 

Samuel  Pratt  —  fii"st  frame  house  in  Buffalo, 1  ."> 

Missionaries  Bacon  —  Osgood  —  Holmes,  etc., 17 

Prayer  meetings  in  Mrs.  Pratt's  parlor, 17 

Buffalo  contributions  to  missionary  purposes  in  1809, IS 

Number  of  houses  in  Bufialo  1812 19 

Amos  Callender  —  Goodell  —  Franklin  —  Sill  —  Atkins, 19 

Habits  of  the  Buffalonians,  1812, 21 

Red  J  acket's  opinion  of  Buffalo  morals, 22 

Adelphic  Library  founded  1811, 21 

Irene  Leech's  school, 2.j 

First  children  baptized  in  Bufl[\ilo, 25 

Names  of  original  members  of  the  First  Church, 20 

Retrospective  view  in  front  of  First  Church, 2s 

Piano  Forte  —  only  one  this  side  of  Canandaigua, 31 

Deacon  Goodell's  Tavern, 31 

Vessels  on  the  Lake  in  1812, 33 

Mails  to  and  from  Buffalo, 34 

Sister  Churches  near  Bviffalo, 35 

Burning  of  Buffalo, 30 

Prices  of  Provisions,  etc.,  in  1815, .' 37 

Rev.  Mr.  Squier  called  1816, 3.S 

The  fii-st  Pastor  ordained  in  Ransom's  bam, 38 

The  singers  on  that  occasion, -10 

Deacon  Callender's  tuning  fork, 40 


836G96 


lY 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

All  the  stores  closed  on  the  Sabbath, 41 

James  and  David  Remington, 41 

Buffalo  Female  Bible  Society,  1816, 42 

First  Episcopal  Society  formed,  1817, 42 

President  Monroe  and  Joseph  Bonaparte, 42 

First  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School, 43 

Flour  two  dollars  a  barrel,  1819, 44 

First  Methodist  Church  on  the  Holland  Purchase. 44 

Rev.  Mr.  Fillmore,  its  first  Pastor. 44 

First  Mission  School,  established  by  Joseph  Dart  and  Eunice  Hosmer,  1821,...  45 

First  Church  edifice,  commenced  December  24,  1822, 47 

Its  subsequent  history — now  used  as  a  tenement  house, 48 

Surviving  members  of  the  First  Church,  from  181G  to  1823, 50 

Rev.  Gilbert  Crau-ford  called,  1824, 51 

Deacon  Goodell's  bequests, 52 

The  present  Church  edifice  of  the  First  Church,  commenced  June,  1826, 54 

Dedication  of  the  Church,  1827, - 54 

Rev.  Sylvester  Eaton  called,  1828, 55 

Seamen's  Chapel  built,  1830, 57 

Sailors'  Home  opened,  1841, 58 

Free  Congregational  Church  formed,  1832, 59 

Re-organized,  1840, 59 

Rev.  Dr.  Heacock  installed,  1846 59 

Miss  Dennison's  Female  Academy, 60 

Rev.  Mr.  Eaton  removes,  1834, GO 

The  first  church  bell  inti'odued  during  Mr.  Eaton's  ministry, 61 

Rev.  Asa  T.  Hopkins  installed,  1836, 63 

Dutch  Reformed  Church, 66 

North  Church— Pearl  Street  Church. 66 

Pecuniary  collections  and  gifts  from  1838  to  1847, 68 

Communicants  under  Dr.  Hopkins'  ministry, 69 

Death  of  Dr.  Hopkins, 70 

Shade  trees  planted  in  front  of  Church,  1847, 72 

Rev.  M.  L.  R.  P.  Thompson  installed,  1848,  72 

Proposition  to  build  a  new  Church  edifice,  1852,   73 

AVestminster  Church, 74 

Dr.  Thompson  dismissed,  1860, 74 

.  The  present  Pastor  installed,  1861, 76 

The  Sextons  of  the  First  Church, 77 

Number  of  Christian  ministers  graduated  from  the  First  Church 77 

Buffalo  fifty  years  ago — and  now 79 

Conclusion, §1 

Poem,  by  Rev.  A.  T.  Chester, S3 


Jfttririiictioiu 


At  a  meeting  of  the  elders  of  tlie  First  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
Buffalo,  held  in  the  month  of  December  last,  Mr.  Thomas  Farnham 
reminded  the  body  that  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Church  would 
occur  on  the  second  day  of  the  succeeding  February.  It  was  the  unani- 
mous opinion  of  the  members  present,  that  steps  should  be  instantly  taken 
to  secure  a  proper  public  celebration  of  that  interesting  and  memorable 
event.  A  meeting  of  the  congregation  was  therefore  called,  when  the 
project  was  received  with  universal  favor,  and  Messrs.  Farnham,  Sawyer, 
Butler,  Miller,  Glenny,  Sherman  and  Coit  were  appointed  a  commit- 
tee to  make  all  needful  preparations  for  the  coming  anniversary.  This 
committee  invited  the  pastor  to  prepare  a  Historical  Discourse,  to  be  read 
on  Sabbath  evening,  the  second  of  February ;  selected  the  following  even- 
ing for  a  pubHc  re-union  of  members  of  the  congregation  from  within  the 
city  and  without ;  issued  a  circular  addressed  to  former  members  residing 
now  in  other  States  or  towns,  inviting  them  to  attend,  or,  if  that  were  im- 
possible, to  communicate  such  facts  and  memories  as  would  give  interest  to 
the  approaching  celebration.  The  pastor,  who  had  resided  less  than  a 
year  in  the  city,  and  had  come  hither  a  total  stranger,  acceded  to  the  re- 
quest of  the  committee,  and  on  the  evening  appointed,  read  to  a  large 
congregation,  assembled  in  the  First  Church,  the  following  Discourse. 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


On  Monday  evening  another  large  assemblage  was  gathered  in  the  same 
place,  at  which  a  Poem  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chester,  and  interest- 
ing addresses  were  dehvered  by  Geo.  R.  Babcock,  Esq.,  who  presided. 
Dr.  Bristol,  Dr.  Lord,  Dr.  Heacock,  Dr.  Smith,  Lewis  F.  Allen,  Esq., 
Henry  W.  Rogers,  Esq.,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bingham,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cook, 
of  Lewiston.  The  committee  had  received  co«imunications  from  many  of 
their  correspondents,  particularly  from  Rev.  Drs.  Squier,  of  New  York, 
Thompson,  of  Cincinnati,  Huntington,  of  Auburn,  Beadle,  of  Hartford, 
Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  of  Troy,  Rev.  W.  DeLoss  Love,  of  Milwaukee, 
Dr.  West,  of  Brooklyn,  Messrs.  Williams,  of  Cleveland,  Billings,  of 
Lansing,  Storrs,  of  Homer,  Holton,  of  Milwaukee,  and  Major  Chapin, 
of  the  army,  expressing  the  most  affectionate  interest  in  the  Church  and 
in  the  occasion,  and  rehearsing  recollections  of  former  persons  and  scenes. 

Such  mention  was  made  of  these,  and  such  extracts  read  as  the  hour 
would  allow. 

Immediate^  after  the  anniversary,  the  congregation  instructed  the  com- 
mittee to  procure  and  publish,  with  the  consent  of  the  authors,  the  Dis- 
course, the  Poem,  the  Letters  and  the  Addresses.  The  task  has  been 
delayed  to  give  time  for  reviewing  and  perfecting  the  narrative,  the 
committee  being  of  opinion  that  no  labor  was  too  protracted  to  secure  to 
the  public  a  trustworthy  history  of  the  Church  and  the  city.  It  was  their 
intention  at  the  first  to  publish  the  Discourse,  adding  to  it  an  appendix, 
which  should  contain  the  Poem,  the  letters  of  correspondents,  the  addresses 
of  Monday  evening,  and  such  notes,  explanations  and  reminiscences  of  their 
own  {is  would  make  a  somewhat  copious  and  comprehensive  history  of  the 
town  during  the  first  half  century  of  its  life.  But  as  they  pursued  their 
pi-eparations,  and  saw  the  growing  dimensions  of  their  work,  they  found  it 
entirely  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  appendix,  and  at  the  same  time 
bring  the  volume  within  the  compass  of  a  reasonable  size.  They  have  at 
hand  nearly  two  liundred  pages  of  manuscript,  received  from  correspond- 


INTRODUCTION.  yii 


ents.  They  have  made  a  list  of  more  than  fifty  well  known  names  of  men 
who  deserve  mention  in  their  notes,  together  with  countless  events  and  trans- 
actions, which  they  could  not  omit  and  be  true  to  their  trust  as  impartial 
historians.  Embarrassed  by  this  unexpected  abundance  of  material,  and 
unable  to  reduce  it  by  excerpts  or  epitomes,  the  committee  very  reluctantly 
submitted  to  their  necessities,  and  concluded  to  publish  only  the  Discourse 
and  the  Poem.  They  are  the  more  reconciled  to  this  alternative,  however, 
since  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society  has  come  into  existence,  under  auspices 
which  ensure  an  instant  demand  for  all  that  can  contribute  to  a  minute  and 
perfect  histor}'^  of  early  times. 

The  committee  particularly  regret  the  necessity  of  leaving  out  of  this 
memorial,  the  very  interesting  sketch  of  men  and  events  communicated  by 
Mr.  Lewis  F.  Allen,  partly  at  the  re-union  on  Monday  evening,  and  more 
fully  in  a  manuscript  which  some  of  them  have  been  permitted  to  read. 
That  document  is  too  valuable  not  to  be  secured  and  put  in  a  permanent 
form  by  the  Historical  Society. 

The  Discourse  is  now  given  to  the  public  with  the  hope  that,  being  found 
for  the  most  part  accurate  and  trustworthy,  it  may  contribute  to  the  good 
name  of  those  who  laid  the  foundations,  the  joy  of  their  descendants,  and 
tlie  prosperity  of  the  dear  Mother  Church  in  Buflfalo. 


THE 


4^/       /^^£i^ii^'^      ^/^       O^//0k^. 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE. 


al|  ^ntt«rg  Jijji:0ttni{. 


On  Tuesday,  the  14tli  of  January,  1812,  Messrs. 
Smith  H.  &  H.  A.  Salisbury,  booksellers  and  printers, 
sent  forth  from  their  office  on  Main  street,  the  six- 
teenth number  of  the  Buffalo  Gazette.  That  interesting 
sheet,  reflecting  all  the  changeful  aspects  of  the  time, 
contained  certain  prophetic  hints  from  which  a  saga- 
cious reader  would  easily  conclude,  that  at  no  distant 
day  the  village  of  Buffalo  would  give  birth  to  a 
Christian  Church. 

In  a  conspicuous  place,  headed  by  a  platoon  of  grave 
capitals,  stood  the  elaborate  advertisement  of  Mr. 
Alanson  Wheadon,  who  respectfully  announced  to  the 
public,  that  he  was  about  to  open  a  school  for  the 
purpose  of  instructing  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  in 
sacred  music.  And  he  desired  that  whoever  wished 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  aforesaid  polite  accom- 
plishment, or  to  encourage  the  intended  school,  would 
be  kind  enough  to  call  at  the  office  of  the  Salisburys, 
and  sign  a  subscription  that  was  waiting  there,  for  that 
purpose.       The    publishers   of    the    Gazette.,   mindful   of 


12  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


the  growing  demand  for  melody,  added  an  advertise- 
ment in  which  they  offered,  at  a  reasonable  price, 
gamuts  for  the  use  of  singing  schools.  Moreover,  the 
Rev.  J.  Alexander,  missionary  to  the  Indians,  gave 
notice  that  those  who  inclined  to  'so  wise  an  in- 
vestment, could  purchase  at  the  Buffalo  book  store, 
which  establishment  was  kept  in  an  upper  room  in 
Pratt's  unfinished  house,  on  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Swan  streets,  the  Child's  Catechism,  or  a  new  help  for 
instructing  the  rising  generation  in  the  first  principles 
of  the  oracles  of  God ;  a  treatise  which,  being  intended 
for  babes,  was  cut  up  into  small  pieces,  having,  as  the 
advertiser  .was  careful  to  say,  seventeen  separate  sec- 
tions, to  which  was  prefixed  an  earnest  address  to 
parents.  In  advance  of  all  these  signs,  two  zealous 
wranglers  had  enlivened  the  columns  of  the  Gazette 
with  an  elaborate  and  unsatisfying  debate  upon  the 
doctrine  of  original  sin ;  a  topic,  which,  whether  it 
was  suggested  by  the  conduct  of  the  neighboring 
Indians,  or  by  the  more  familiar  disclosures  of  life  in 
the  village,  it  is,  perhaps,  impossible  now  to  decide. 
Finally,  to  give  point  and  certainty  to  these  conspir- 
ing omens,  Mr.  Philip  M.  Holmes,  whose  father,  the 
Rev.  Elkanah  Holmes,  had,  on  the  Wednesday  previous, 
made  Ebenezer  Walden  happy  by  fastening  the  tie 
which  boulid  the  young  counselor  to  Miss  Susan  Marvin, 
daughter  by  an  earlier  marriage  of  Mrs.  Comfort  Lan- 
DON, — Mr.  Philip  Holmes,  I  say,  issued  in  the  Gazette 
a  printed  call,  inviting  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
who  desired  to  establish  an  ecclesiastical  society  and 
provide  for   the    regular   preaching    of    the    Gospel,  to 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE. 


13 


meet  at  the  Court  House  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  2 2d  histant. 

Two  weeks  later  the  \\6ell  known  missionary,  Thaddeus 
Osgood,  being  here,  organized,  on  that  memorable  day, 
the  2d  of  February,  1812,  the  First  Church  of  Christ, 
in  Buffalo. 

Fifty  years  exactly  have  elapsed  since  that  event. 
And  we  are  together  to-night  to  commemorate  the 
birth  of  our  beloved  Church,  and  rehearse  as  best  we 
may,  the  varied  story  of  its  first  half  century's  growth. 

By  all  the  tokens  by  which  men  judge  of  events  and 
causes,  it  was  full  time  to  plant  a  church  in  this  rising 
village.  It  had  been  a  score  of  years  since  white  men 
began  to  build  their  cabins  and  plant  their  gardens  in 
sight  of  these  shining  waters.  As  early  as  1791,  a 
ti'ader  by  the  name  of  Winne,  was  selling  to  the  Indians, 
tobacco,  trinkets  and  whiskey,  from  his  log  cabin  near 
the  present  Washington  street  bridge.  In  1798  there 
were  eight  white  families  here,  living  in  a  cluster  of 
huts  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek.  The  heads  of 
these  fjimilies  were,  Winne,  the  trader ;  Middaugh,  the 
Dutchman,  cooper,  hunter,  idler,  and  wit,  who,  with  his 
son-in-law,  Ezekiel  Lane,  occupied  a  double  log  house 
a  little  south  of  Bonney's  Hotel ;  Johnston,  the  Indian 
interpreter,  who  lived  a  little  south-east  of  the  Mansion 
House ;  Palmer,  who  kept  the  first  tavern  in  Buffalo, 
renting  the  building  of  Johnston  ;  who  afterwards,  in 
1801,  petitioned  Ellicott  for  a  lot  on  which  to  build 
a  school  house ;  whose  widow  dispensed  hospitalities 
after  her  husband's  death,  at  the  old  stand,  opposite 
Exchange    and    west    of    Main    streets ;     Asa    Ransom, 


14 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


jeweler,  whom  we  find  at  Scottsville,  on  the  Genesee 
river,  m  1789,  who  moved  in  1801  to  Clarence,  to  keep 
one  of  Ellicott's  three  taverns,  whose  daughter,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Merrill,  was  the  first,  and  his  son,  now 
Col.  Harry  B.  Ransom,  of  Clarence,  the  second  child 
born  on  the  Holland  Purchase,  who  lived  in  1798  in 
a  log  house  just  west  of  the  Western  Hotel;  Maybee, 
another  trader,  whose  store  stood  in  the  rear  of  Glen- 
ny's  store  on  Main  street;  Robbins,  the  blacksmith, 
whose  shop  was  between  Swan  and  Seneca  streets,  on 
the  west  side  of  Main;  —  eight  families,  dwelling  in 
seven  log  huts, —  this  was  Buffalo  in  1798. 

There  was  an  Indian  trail  to  Avon,  on  the  Genesee 
river,  but  after  leaving  Buffalo  the  next  house  was 
Ganson's,  fifty  miles  off,  in  what  is  now  the  town  of 
LeRoy.  These  settlers  hunted  and  fished  and  took 
care  of  their  gardens,  and  when  it  was  possible,  drove 
a  bargain  with  the  Indians.  They  obtained  game  from 
the  woods,  potatoes  from  their  clearings,  and  when  they 
wanted  bread,  bought  of  the  Senecas  a  string  of  dried 
corn,  scooped  a  hollow  in  the  stump  of  a  tree,  bent 
a  neighboring  sapling,  attached  to  its  top  a  deer  skin 
strap,  to  this  a  smooth  stone,  and  with  this  extempore 
pestle,  broke  the  corn  into  grits  which  they  called 
meal.  This  is  the  way  the  flouring. business  was  carried 
on  at  Lake  Erie  sixty-five  years  ago. 

The  tax  roll  of  that  time  reports  the  pecuniary  con- 
dition of  these  patriarchs  of  the  town :  Middaugh,  the 
most  idle  and  most  contented  of  all  the  settlers,  was 
assessed  nine  cents,  on  a  property  of  forty-five  dollars ; 
Lane,  his   son-in-law,  was    better  off,  being    put    down 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  15 

for  two  shillings,  on  an  estate  valued  at  140  dollars, 
while  the  nabob  Johnston,  who  owned  half  the  land 
on  which  the  city  now  stands,  was  esteemed  worth 
2,034  dollars,  and  taxed  accordingly  the  sum  of 
thirty  shillings.  Such  golden  eggs  were  found  in  this 
new  nest  in  1798. 

In  1801,  the  Holland  Company  having  purchased  the 
entire  tract  lying  west  of  the  Genesee  river  and  be- 
tween Pennsylvania  and  the  lakes,  excepting  only  the 
mile  strip  and  the  four  reservations  on  which  the 
Indians  built  their  wigwams,  Mr.  Ellicott,  their  agent, 
laid  out  the  village,  numbered  the  lots,  and  intending 
to  make  it  his  own  residence,  established  it  as  a  con- 
dition of  sale,  that  each  purchaser  should  clear,  and 
build,  and  settle  on  his  land.  At  that  time  the  Holland 
Purchase  constituted  a  single  township  on  which  there 
were  perhaps  as  many  as  fifty  families.  For  various 
reasons  emigrants  arrived  slowly.  In  1803,  Samuel 
Pratt,  a  merchant  from  Westminster,  Vt.,  a  native  of 
East  Hartford,  Ct.,  having  caught  the  contagion  of 
removal,  visited  this  region,  and  being  pleased  with  Mr. 
Ellicott's  prospective  city  of  New  Amsterdam,  bought 
the  lot  No.  ^,  where  the  Mansion  House  now  stands, 
and  the  next  year  removed  hither  with  his  family. 
He  brought  his  goods  in  two  large  covered  wagons, 
and  his  family  in  a  two  horse  coach,  hung  on  thorough 
braces,  the  first  vehicle  of  the  kind  that  ever  crossed 
the  Grenesee;  certainly  the  first  that  ever  threaded  the 
streets  or  fathomed  the  gullies  of  New  Amsterdam. 
In  1805,  Mr.  Pratt  erected  the  first  frame  house  ever 
built  in  Buffalo.     It  was  a  large  two  story  mansion  on 


16  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

the  south-west  corner  of  Main  and  Crow  streets.  The 
carpet  which  adorned  one  of  its  parlors  was  also  the 
pioneer  of  its  kind,  being  the  first  convenience  of  the 
sort  which  the  village  had  seen.  This  hospitable  family, 
and  their  spacious  house,  were  for  years  the  joy  of 
strangers,  who  could  find  little  comfort  in  Crow's 
coarse  hut.  It  was  also  the  home  of  missionaries, 
Bacon,  Osgood,   Holmes,  Spencer,  Cram,  and  others. 

In  1810,  there  were,  perhaps,  a  hundred  dwellings  and 
five  hundred  people  in  the  settlement.  These  had 
come  from  all  directions:  from  Canada,  from  the  valley 
of  the  Mohawk,  from  the  far  East,  from  Massachusetts, 
from  Connecticut,  from  Vermont.  They  were  of  all 
varieties  of  character,  too.  Some  had  left  behind  ac- 
counts unsettled,  and  families  unprovided  for,  and  had 
fled  hither  to  escape  the  sheriffs  and  the  paydays. 
Others  had  been  guilty  of  smuggling,  or  fraud,  or  some 
other  crime,  and  setting  a  great  value  upon  health, 
thought  the  air  of  the  Western  lakes  superior  to  that 
of  the  Eastern  prisons.  Some  were  mere  adventur- 
ers, roving,  restless,  looking  for  chances,  who  had 
drifted  on  the  foremost  wave  from  Cape  Cod  to  the 
Hudson,  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Genesee,  from  the 
Genesee  hither,  and  who  were  destined  to  float  on 
with  every  changing  moon  till  death,  or  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  should  bid  them  to  halt.  Mixed  up  with 
these  were  men  of  another  and  better  type,  having  in 
their  composition  some  of  the  stuff  of  which  heroes  are 
built, — resolute,  honest,  courageous  souls, — sifted  out 
of  a  hundred  Eastern  towns,  and  sent  here  to  be  the 
architects   of    the    coming    metropolis.       Such    men    as 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  17 

Walden,  and  Potter,  and  Pratt,  and  Coit,  and  Chapin, 
and  TowNSEND,  and  Grant,  and  Grosvenor,  and  Hodge, 
and  Heacock,  by  their  integrity,  their  intelHgence, 
their  energy,  and  their  well  directed  and  persevering 
labor,  laid  the  foundations  of  the  then  infant  city. 

It  appears,  moreover,  that  there  were  as  many  ?is 
thu'ty  professors  of  religion  here,  pioneers  whom  Provi- 
dence had  sent  before  to  open  in  the  wilderness  a 
highway  for  the  ark  and  the  sanctuary  and  the  priests 
which  should  come  after.  These  devout  people  did 
not  forget  the  Lord  in  the  land  of  their  exile.  Though 
they  had  no  shepherd  and  no  sanctuary  and  no  table 
of  fellowship,  yet,  they  came  together  at  regular 
periods,  and  in  some  cabin  or  store  or  private  room, 
prayed  and  sang  psalms  and  recited  the  catechism  like 
the  Hebrew  exiles,  who  centuries  before  sat  by  the 
rivers  of  Babylon  and  wept  when  they  remembered 
Zion.  Mrs.  Pratt,  and  her  neighbor,  Mrs.  Landon, 
whose  husband  had  succeeded  Crow  in  the  village 
tavern,  early  began  to  pray  together,  every  evening  at 
sunset,  asking  especially  that  God  would  send  to  the 
people  a  minister,  and  set  up  for  his  servants  a  church. 
Other  good  women, — Mrs.  Callender,  Mrs.  Harrington, 
Mrs.  Chapin,  Mrs.  Reese,  Mrs.  Gillett,  Mrs.  Pratt,  the 
younger,  Mrs.  Ball,  Miss  Barker,  Miss  Granger,  came 
in,  till  the  two  were  nineteen ;  and  once  a  week  they 
held  a  female  prayer  meeting  in  Mrs,  Pratt's  parlor. 
Nor  did  God  forget  his  dispersed  children  who  called 
to  him  out  of  their  cabins  and  garrets  and  shops.  As 
early  as  1807  the  missionaries  of  Connecticut  and 
Berkshire    and    New    York,   began    to    visit    at    distant 


18  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

intervals  this  remote  and  rising  settlement.  Bacon 
stopped  on  his  way  to  Mackinaw ;  Osgood  came  over 
from  Canada ;  John  Spencer  arrived  from  the  Canan- 
dawa  ;  Mr.  Holmes  left  his  station  among  the  Tuscaroras 
with  a  twofold  purpose,  to  visit  his  son  and  comfort 
and  instruct  the  people.  Alexander,  the  missionary  to 
the  Senecas,  and  Hyde,  their  teacher,  did  what  they 
could  to  keep  alive  the  outward  forms  of  worship. 
We  have  evidence  also  that  the  people  appreciated  the 
visits  and  labors  of  the  missionaries.  In  1809  the  Con- 
necticut Missionary  Society  reported  that  Hev:  John 
Spencer  had  received  at  Buffalo  $8.83  for  its  treasury. 
That  was  apparently  the  first  money  contributed  to  the 
cause  of  missions  by  the  town  of  Buffalo.  Oswego 
gave  that  year  $2.50,  and  Erie  $18.20.  The  next  year 
Buffalo  gave  $5.06,  LeRoy  $1.00,  Warsaw  $1.50,  and 
Erie  $2.00.  In  1811  Buffalo  contributed  $1.58;  in 
1812  nothing.  The  next  year  Rev.  Simeon  Woodruff, 
missionary  to  New  Connecticut,  stopped  here  on  his 
way  westward,  and  spending  a  little  time  with  the 
people,  received  for  the  Society  $6.25.  Who  were  the 
people  that  in  that  early  day  remembered  the  cause  of 
missions,  and  out  of  their  penury  gave  tithes  to  their 
Master's  kingdom?  Which  of  the  twenty-one  women 
who  afterward  joined  the  church,  which  of  the  eight 
men  who  bore  the  name  of  Jesus,  presented  to  the 
Lord  those  first  fruits  of  faith  and  charity  from  the 
town  of  Buffalo  ? 

By  the  labors  of  good  men  and  women  on  the 
ground,  and  the  visits  of  ministers  and  missionaries 
from  abroad,  the  spark  of  godliness,  otherwise  sure  to 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  19 

be  smothered,  was  kept  aglow,  till  the  time  when  a 
church  should  be  organized,  an  altar  set  up,  a  fire 
kindled,  and  the  incense  of  a  perpetual  worship  go  up 
to  gladden  the  skies. 

At  length  it  is  1812,  and  there  are  one  hundred 
houses  and  perhaps  five  hundred  people  in  the  village. 
It  is  time  there  were  a  church  here.  And  fortunately 
there  is  ample  material  for  at  least  a  hopeful  beginning. 
Amos  Callender,  upright,  accurate  and  decided,  who 
knows  how  to  train  unruly  school  boys,  and  how  to 
keep  exact  accounts,  who  can  attend  a  funeral,  or 
read  a  sermon,  or  pitch  the  tune  in  singing,  who 
though  educated  a  churchman  and  passionately  attached 
to  method,  thinks  more  of  his  Saviour  than  of  his  sect, 
and  would  leap  from  any  religious  establishment  to 
save  religion  herself;  Jabez  Goodell,  who  keeps  the 
teamster's  tavern,  and  while  he  takes  care  of  his  own 
affairs,  is  still  a  man  of  principle,  ready  to  have  part 
in  the  cause  of  Christ;  Stephen  Franklin,  who  keeps 
a  tavern  at  Black  Rock,  and  has  the  reputation  of 
sound  sense  and  incorruptible  virtue ;  Nathaniel  Sill, 
forwarder,  magistrate  and  merchant,  of  the  firm  of 
Porter,  Barton  &  Co.,  a  firm  which,  like  some  colossal 
giant,  standing  with  one  foot  at  Oswego  and  the  other 
on  the'  shore  of  the  Niagara,  catches  up  the  merchan- 
dise of  the  East  and  hands  it  over  to  the  schooners 
and  the  wagons  that  wait  here  from  the  West, — Na- 
thaniel Sill,  capable  of  much  business,  and  correct  in 
all  his  habits ;  Samuel  Atkins,  keeper  of  a  tavern  on 
the  road  to  Williamsville,  and,  though  five  miles  distant, 
is  yet    too  fond  of  the    house  of    God    to    stay    away; 


20  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

John  Seely,  the  carpenter,  who  resides  two  miles  be- 
yond Black  Rock,  but  comes  in  every  week  to  recite 
the  catechism  to  Mr.  Hyde;  Hyde  the  Indian  teacher 
and  ardent  saint; — these,  and  Mrs.  Comfort  Landon, 
once  Mrs.  Marvin,  a  noble  woman,  full  of  all  matronly 
traits  and  virtues,  with  Mrs.  Esther  Pratt,  her  associ- 
ate and  equal,  and  Mrs.  H-IRRington,  wife  of  a  hero, 
and  mother  of  a  more  than  hero,  to  wit,  a  missionary; 
and  seventeen  others  who  shone  as  lights  in  their 
several  dwellings;  here  were  people  enough,  here  was 
worth  and  intelligence  and  power  enough,  for  an  instant 
and  hopeful  beginning, — out  of  this  material  it  was  easy 
to  form  a  Christian  Church.  The  only  question  was 
how  to  support  it  when  formed.  Pratt,  who  though 
not  a  member  of  the  church,  had  told  his  wife  that 
for  her  sake  he  would  himself  support  a  pastor,  had 
just  died ;  Callender  had  intelligence  and  integrity  and 
executive  power,  but  he  had  no  money ;  Hyde  was 
zealous  and  exemplary  and  devout,  but  exceedingly 
poor;  GooDELL,  afterwards  so  prosperous  and  so  rich, 
was  then  earning  only  a  comfortable  maintenance  from 
week  to  week  in  his  log  tavern ;  Seely  was  a  mechanic 
dependent  on  his  trade;  Atkins  had  a  small  farm 
adjoining  his  tavern;  Franklin  was  poor;  Sill  just 
beginning  to  thrive.  It  would  have  been  difiScult,  I 
think,  to  count  five  thousand  dollars  as  the  aggregate 
of  all  that  these  men  possessed  the  day  they  set  up 
and  undertook  to  support  their  long  coveted  and  loved 
church.  But  they  knew  what  they  were  doing.  They 
understood  who  it  is  that  takes  in  charge  the  churches 
which  His   people   plant.      And  just   as  they  had   put 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  21 

their  seeds  into  the  soil,  and  waited  for  God  to  quicken 
and  sustain  the  growing  corn,  so  they  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  infant  church,  committing  its  future  to  the 
care  of  Him  on  whom,  as  their  Head,  all  Christian  in- 
stitutions do  constantly  depend.  Moreover,  there  was 
very  great  and  instant  need  of  a  church  among  the 
people  at  that  time. 

The  habits  of  the  villagers  were  what  might  be  ex- 
pected to  prevail  among  a  people  thrown  together 
from  so  many  different  sources,  upon  such  an  unculti- 
vated soil,  and  leading  a  rude,  eager,  frontier  life. 
Away  from  restraints,  unacquainted  with  each  other, 
not  knowing  how  long  they  might  remain  together, 
without  fortunes,  many  of  them  without  families,  in  a 
community  where  public  opinion  had  yet  to  be  formed, 
where  laws  and  schools  and  customs  were  yet  to  be 
established,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  people  were  un- 
scrupulous and  careless,  and  gross.  Profanity  was  rife 
on  every  hand.  Society  was  held  at  taverns  and 
gaming  tables.  The  Sabbath  was  a  day  of  pleasure  or 
of  toil,  as  choice  or  convenience  required.  On  that 
sacred  *day  the  streets  were  full  of  teams,  the  stores 
stood  open  for  trade,  and  men  made  journeys  to  transact 
business,  or  view  the  country,  or  visit  theii'  friends. 
Trades  were  plied,  and  amusements  conducted,  as  if  in 
coming  hither  the  mass  of  the  people  had  left  behind 
their  Bibles,  their  consciences  and  their  memories 
of  sacred  time.  The  children  were  without  competent 
schools  or  general  instruction,  and  to  add  to  these 
disadvantages  and  snares,  they  met  at  every  turn  a 
company  of   obscene  idlers,  or  saw    by  the  way-side  a 


22  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

groujD  of  besotted  Indians,  Intemperance,  too,  that 
mother  of  all  the  vices,  was  prevailing  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  the  Indians  themselves  had  petitioned  the 
Legislature  to  suppress  the  trade  in  drinji.  It  was  not 
without  a  meaning  that  the  Seneca  prophet,  in  declaring 
one  of  his  visions,  rehearsed  how  in  a  trance  the  Great 
Spirit  had  opened  his  eyes,  till  he  saw  in  the  air  over 
his  own  village,  Canadesago,  a  flock  of  devils,  hovering 
and  descending,  and  seeking  a  place  to  ahght.  But  as 
that  was  a  temperate  village,  and  whiskey  barrels  and 
drinking  places  were  wanting,  the  infuriate  imps,  finding 
no  fit  perch,  directed  their  flight  straight  to  Buffalo 
creek,  where  they  alighted  among  the  waiting  casks, 
and  found  enough  to  enjoy  and  enough  to  do. 

Tradition  tells  us  the  savages  had  begun  to  discern 
that  their  white  neighbors  were  in  great  need  of  a 
church.  The  missionary  Cram  had  been  among  them, 
and  asked  permission  to  introduce  the  new  religion  of 
Christ.  The  chiefs,  Red  Jacket,  Farmer's  Brother,  and 
the  rest,  after  mature  deliberation,  are  said  to  have 
returned  for  answer,  that  the  Senecas  had  a  religion 
already,  but  as  it  did  not  make  them  very  holiest  or 
very  good  they  would  be  quite  willing  to  accept 
another,  if  they  could  only  first  be  certain  that  it 
would  do  the  work.  To  test  the  power  of  Cram's 
religion,  therefore,  they  recommended  that  he  should 
go  over  to  Buffalo,  and  try  it  for  a  few  months  upon 
the  whites.  If  it  made  them  honest  and  veracious  and 
kind,  he  might  bring  it  to  the  Reservation,  and  the 
Senecas  would  receive  it.  I  am  compelled  to  acknowl- 
edge, that,  so    far    as    I    have    been    able   to  discover. 


i 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  23 

history  is  silent  on  the  question  whether  the  missionary 
succeeded  sufficiently  to  warrant  his  return  to  tlie 
Indians.  But  these  shrewd  savages  must  have  formed 
another  estimate  of  the  religion  which  they  were  so 
willing  at  first  to  reject,  when,  six  years  afterward,  in 
1817,  their  corn  was  killed  by  a  premature  frost,  and 
famine  came  among  them,  so  that  hundreds  would  have 
starved  had  it  not  been  that  Hyde  obtained  and  dis- 
tributed more  than  five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  flour 
and  meal  and  meat  to  their  necessities. 

If  Buffalo  was  ever  to  attain  to  influence  and  re- 
spectability in  after  years,  a  Christian  Church  must  be 
planted  in  the  midst  of  the  people.  Fifty  years  ago, 
the  last  week,  Mr.  Osgood  made  his  fifth  annual  visit 
to  the  village.  This  devoted  and  indefatigable  mis- 
sionary was  accustomed  once  a  year  to  start  from  Con- 
necticut, journey  through  Vermont  into  the  Canadas, 
crossing  at  Niagara,  and  passing  down  to  Buffalo, 
whence  he  went  westward  to  Pennsylvania,  return- 
ing by  a  southern  route  to  Hartford.  On  these  tours 
he  made  himself  useful,  in  every  possible  way,  to  the 
settlements,  where  he  was  welcome.  By  visiting  the 
schools  and  conversing  with  the  children ;  by  going 
from  house  to  house,  instructing  and  comforting  the 
people  ;  founding  village  libraries,  and  contributing 
money  or  books,  to  make  a  beginning ;  organizing 
churches  ;  attending  funerals  ;  preaching  in  private 
houses,  or  wherever  a  congregation  could  be  gath- 
ered ;  administering  baptism  to  children,  and  the  sup- 
per to  saints,  making  .himself  a  bishop  of  souls  and 
an   apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,   he  laid   the  foundations  of 


24  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

religious  prosperity  wherever  he  went.  The  Adelphic 
Library,  which  was  the  first  institution  of  the  kind  in 
Western  New  York,  and  which  was  in  existence  here 
in  1811,  was  founded,  no  doubt,  by  the  labors  and 
gifts  of  this  good  man.  Mr.  Osgood  arrived  here  from 
Canada  late  in  January,  1811,  and  was  the  guest,  I 
presume,  of  Mr.  Heman  B.  Potter.  He  remained  two 
weeks. 

In  a  journal  written  at  the  time,  and  preserved  in 
the  FanopUst  of  the  following  July,  he  says : — 

"  There  appeared  more  attention  to  religious  in- 
struction and  to  divine  things  in  general,  in  Buffalo, 
than  I  witnessed  anywhere  else  in  the  new  settle- 
ments. By  the  request  of  a  number  who  had  pro- 
fessed religion  previous  to  their  removal  thither,  I 
organized  a  church,  consisting  of  ten  members,  to 
which  were  added,  after  a  suitable  examination,  fif- 
teen others,  who  gave  hopeful  evidence  of  their  being 
duly  qualified  for  admission  to  a  church.  On  the  fol- 
lowing Sabbath  we  celebrated  the  Holy  Supper,  for 
the  first  time  in  that  town ;  on  which  occasion  there 
were  thirty  who  partook,  five  of  whom  were  occasional 
communicants.  A  female  praying  society  is  established 
in  that  town,  consisting  of  nineteen  members.  They 
meet  weekly  for  prayer  and  almsgiving.  There  were, 
last  winter,  five  schools  taught  in  the  town,  all  of  which 
I  visited,  and  was  happy  to  find  them  in  general  well 
regulated.  Two  of  the  instructors  offered  prayers  in 
their  schools,  morning  and  evening.  A  number  of 
young  people  in  the  place  appeared  to  be  anxious  to 
know  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved." 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  25 

The  female  prayer  meeting  of  which  he  speaks  was 
the  one  which  originated  with  Mrs.  Pratt  and  Mrs. 
Landon.  Their  ahns  may  have  been  bestowed  in  part 
upon  the  missionaries,  and  especially  upon  Osgood, 
who  reports  that  he  received  at  one  time  for  his  cause 
nearly  fifty  dollars  from  friends  in  Buffalo.  The  two 
schools  that  were  opened  with  prayer  were  doubtless 
Mr.  Qallender's,  kept  in  the  school  house  on  the  Fobes 
lot,  and  Mss  Irene  Leech's  school  for  girls,  which  was 
held  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Pratt's  house,  on 
Crow  street. 

Fifty  years  ago  to-day,  the  First  Church  in  Bufflilo 
was  organized,  and  began  its  journey  in  the  great 
march  of  the  Churches.  The  services  on  that  impressive 
occasion  were  held  in  the  then  unfinished  Court  House. 
There,  behind  the  rail,  in  the  judge's  chair,  was  Os- 
good, the  beloved  missionary,  his  benignant  face  ra- 
diant with  unusual  love.  And  many  a  child  who  had, 
during  the  week,  sat  on  his  knee  and  listened  to  his 
stories,  or  read  his  books,  or  recited  the  catechism, 
wished  that  the  good  man  would  but  turn  a  glance  to 
them.  And  there,  on  their  rough  benches,  sat  the 
rustic  but  attentive  audience.  And  when  it  was  asked 
whether  there  were  any  children  to  be  baptized,  all 
eyes  were  turned  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Callender,  as  they 
led  forth  their  three  daughters^  whom  we  have  since 
known  as  Mrs.  Ketchum,  Mrs.  Hamlin,  and  Mrs.  Wil- 
cox, and  the  father  holding  them  up,  one  after  the 
other,  the  names  of  Louisa,  and  Charlotte,  and 
Lydia,  were  pronounced,  and  the  Sacraments  of  the 
Church  were  for  the  first  time  administered. 


26  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

The  names  of  the  original  members,  who  came  from 
other  Churches,  or  who  joined  by  profession  of  their 
faith,  were: — 

Jabez  B.  Hyde,  Amos  Callender, 

Rusha  Hyde,  Rebecca  Callender, 

Samuel  Atkins,  Comfort  Landon, 

Anna  Atkins,  Esther  Pratt, 

John  J.  Seely,  Jabez  Goodell,       * 

Elizabeth  Seely,  Nancy  Hall, 

Stephen  Franklin,  Ruth  Foster, 

Sarah  Franklin,  Kesiah  Cotton, 

Nathaniel  Sill,  Kesiah  Sill, 

Kesiah  Holt,  Nancy  Mather, 

Sally  Haddock,  Henry  Woodworth, 

Nancy  Harvey,  Sophia  Gillet, 

Sophia  Bull,  Mary  Holbrook, 

Betsey  Atkins,  Lois  Curtiss, 
Sarah  Hoisington. 

Stocking  was  here,  but  was  not  yet  a  member  of 
the  Church. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  remember,  that  on  the  suc- 
ceeding Thursday,  that  is,  on  the  6th  of  February, 
1812,  Newell,  and  Hall,  and  Judson,  and  Nott,  and 
Rice,  the  first  missionaries  of  the  American  Church  to 
heathen  lands,  were  set  apart  to  their  work  in  Salem, 
Massachusetts.  Our  Church  is  thus  of  twin  birth  with 
that  great  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  nations. 
May  it  ever  be  a  zealous,  efficient  and  successful  fellow- 
laborer  in  that  glorious  enterprise. 

There  was  now  a  Church  in   Buffalo,  but  no  Pastor. 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  27 

On  the  Sabbath  the  congregation  met  in  the  Court 
House,  where,  if  a  preacher  chanced  to  be  present, 
they  heard  a  sermon;  if  not,  they  filled  the  time  with 
such  other  exercises  of  prayer  and  praise  and  exhorta- 
tion as  their  own  gifts  and  members  could  produce. 
Deacon  Stocking  sometimes  led  the  singing.  But  his 
voice  catching  the  mood  of  his  mind,  was  over-modest, 
so  th^t  he  always  pitched  the  tune  too  low,  while  his 
friend  Callender,  who  did  what  he  did  with  a  will, 
was  in  danger,  on  occasions,  of  commencing  too  high. 
It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  before  his  arrival, 
there  was  a  felt  need  of  some  musical  mediator,  some 
leadei'  like  Ketchum,  to  direct  the  services  of  song  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord.  To  these  Sabbath  meetings, 
held  in  the  Court  House,  many  a  stranger  directed  his 
steps,  as,  journeying  westward,  and  detained  by  storm, 
or  weariness,  or  mud,  he  heard  from  his  hostess,  Mrs. 
Landon,  or  from  Deacon  Goodell,  or  Mr.  Pomeroy,  that 
there  was  a  people  here  who  worshipped  God ;  and 
while  his  jaded  horse  mused  in  the  warm  stall,  and 
forgot  three  hundred  miles  of  travel  over  the  full  and 
generous  crib,  the  master,  guided  by  some  friendly 
hand,  took  his  way  to  the  house  of  prayer,  to  join, 
perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  many  weeks,  in  the 
songs  of  the  sanctuary,  and  the  supplications  of  those 
who  call  upon  God  in  the  solitudes  of  the  wilderness. 
We  have  seen  the  infant  Church.  Let  us  go  forth 
and  look  at  the  infant  village.  It  is  the  summer  of 
1812.  We  take  our  stand  in  front  of  the  site  of  the 
present  Church,  and  in  the  middle  of  what  is  now 
the  public  street.     Here   we  can  discern  well  nigh   all 


28  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


that  there  is  of  Buffalo  at  this  period  of  its  history. 
What  do  we  see?  Not  the  village — not  houses — 
we  must  look  a  second  time  to  behold  these.  Woods, 
openings,  swamps,  solitudes — this  is  our  first  impres- 
sion. We  are  looking  northward.  This  wide  open- 
ing, cut  through  the  forest,  and  reaching  to  yonder 
distant  hill,  on  which  we  s<^e  here  and  there  a  low 
wood  house  or  cabin,  is  Yan  Staphorst  avenue.  It 
will,  at  some  future  day,  shake  off  its  shadows,  and 
dry  up  its  mud,  and  clear  away  its  adjoining  woods, 
the  oaks  on  the  east,  the  chestnuts  on  the  west,  and, 
dropping  its  Dutch  name,  will  step  forth  into  history, 
yes,  and  into  fame,  too,  making  itself  known  as  the 
Main  street  of  Buffalo. 

This  other  opening  towards  the  north-west,  extend- 
ing like  a  wide  lane  through  the  woods  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach,  on  which  there  is  now  but  a  single 
house, — this  is  Schimmelpennick  avenue,  to  be  called  in 
a  better  age,  and  a  less  barbarous  dialect,  Niagara  street. 
This  broad  highway,  which  runs  southward  to  the  creek, 
with  Eli  Hart's  store  on  the  west,  and  further  down 
and  on  the  other  side  the  house  and  store  of  Mr.  Lewis  ; 
in  the  middle  of  which  we  see  Metcalf's  rude  stage, 
and  beyond  it  two  huge  covered  wagons  from  Albany, 
floundering  together  in  unfathomable  mud, — this  is 
Willink  avenue.  That  high  mound  over  which  some 
school  girls  are  clambering  on  their  way  to  the  creek, 
to  gather  blackberries  and  grapes,  and  from  the  top  of 
which  Mr.  Landon  is  showing  some  of  his  guests  the 
outspread  and  beautiful  lake,  is  the  Terrace.  On  the 
left   of  this  avenue,  and   running   eastward,  are   Swan 


i 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  29 

and  Seneca,  and  farther  down,  Crow  streets.  It  is 
only  a  few  years  since  Mr.  Henry  Chapin  asked  leave 
of  Mr.  Ellicott  to  enclose  Seneca  street  and  make  a 
garden  of  it.  That  crowd  of  women  gathered  around 
the  windows  of  the  jeweler's  shop,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  street,  is  a  bevy  of  matrons  and  maids  from  the 
reservation,  who  are  regaling  their  eyes  with  the  sight 
of  Mr.  Hull's  new  trinkets  and  jewels.  This  other  and 
less  artistic  group,  on  the  corner  of  Seneca  street,  upon 
whom  Mr.  Cook  is  dashing  buckets  of  cool  and  peace- 
producing  water,  is  a  knot  of  tawny  vixens,  made 
furious  by  jealousy  and  drink,  who  seek  to  relieve  their 
rage  by  plucking  at  each  others'  flashing  eyes  and 
raven  locks. 

These  two  avenues,  opening  westward,  are  Vollenho- 
ven  and  Stadtnitski.  This  spot  on  which  we  stand  is 
the  semi-circular  front  of  Mr.  Ellicott's  favorite  and 
princely  lot.  Here  he  intends  to  plant  his  own  resi- 
dence. This  sloping  ground  descending  to  the  lake  he 
expects  to  lay  out  and  adorn  in  the  most  perfect  taste. 
With  a  little  labor  they  will  make  most  beautiful  mead- 
ows, he  writes  to  Cazenove.  And  this  spacious  and 
beautiful  lot,  extending  on  the  front  from  Eagle  street 
to  Swan,  running  eastward  till  it  covers  a  hundred 
good  acres,  from  which  the  woods  are  already  cleared 
off  two-thirds  the  way,  so  that  that  central  hillock, 
crowned  with  its  overhanging  and  imperial  oak,  under 
whose  shade  Farmer's  Brother  and  Red  Jacket,  and 
Cornplanter,  and  Snake,  and  other  chiefs,  love  to  loll 
or  hold  palaver  with  the  whites — can  be  clearly  seen 
—  this  splendid  site,  on  which  so  much  of  history  waits 


30  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

to  be  enacted;  the  United  States  Bank  to  be  built — 
Rathbun's  bubble  to  fill,  and  rise,  and  break — the 
Clarendon  to  burn — is  Mr.  Ellicott's  selected  home. 
Here  he  intends  to  erect  a  princely  mansion.  Out  of 
his  north  windows  he  will  look  up  the  populous  and 
peaceful  Van  Staphorst  avenue.  Prom  his  south  piazza 
he  will  gaze  on  the  bustle  and  the  thrift  of  Willink 
street.  From  his  front  balconies  he  will  catch  sight  of 
Black  Rock,  and  Canada,  and  the  Lake. 

But  let  us  fix  attention  for  a  moment  on  the  village. 
Here  are  nearly  a  hundred  houses,  all  of  wood,  with 
one  exception,  and  all  low  and  small,  and  exceedingly 
modest.  They  have  even  a  downcast  look,  as  if  they 
were  never  intended  for  exhibition.  One  might  almost 
imagine  that  they  had  clambered  up  from  the  sur- 
rounding fens,  to  dry  themselves  for  an  hour  on  the 
sunny  spaces  and  the  little  uplands,  and  get  back  again: 
and  that  we  had  caught  them  unexpectedly  in  this 
open  daylight.  Woods,  clearings,  houses,  mud — this  is 
Buffalo  in  1812.  Below  the  Terrace,  on  the  west  side, 
is  a  vast  swamp,  full  of  thorn  bushes  and  alders,  and 
pond  lilies  and  frogs.  Eastward  there  is  another. 
There  is  an  impassable  swale,  fringed  with  black  ash 
trees,  between  Seneca  and  Swan  streets,  while  beyond, 
towards  the  Reservation,  is  a  marsh  where  the  cows  get 
mired,  and  a  wilderness  where  the  truants  are  lost. 
Woods,  clearings,  houses,  mud.  Not  a  plank  on  the 
sidewalk.  Not  a  pavement  in  the  streets.  Not  a  lamp 
post  from  Deacon  Goodell's  to  the  Terrace  and  the  creek. 
Let  us  go  up  Van  Staphorst  or  Main  street.  Here,  on 
the    east   side,    above    Eagle,    and    just   where    McAr- 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  31 

thur's  is  now,  stands  the  pride  of  the  village,  the  brick 
mansion  of  counselor  Walden,  Within,  there  is  a  lady, 
and  what  can  be  said  of  no  other  dwelhng  this  side  of 
Gregg's,  in  Canandaigua,  there  is  a  piano  there  as  well. 
So  that  culture,  hospitality  and  music  combine  to  make 
Mr.  Walden's  abode  the  resort  and  the  joy  of  his 
neighbors. 

We  pass  on,  noting  now  only  the  buildings  on  the 
east  side  of  the  way.  North  of  Walden's,  in  a  clear- 
ing which  is  now  the  Park,  stands  the  unfinished  Court 
House.  There  the  Church  was  organized.  There  the 
congregation  worships.  We  go  on,  by  woods,  and  over 
gullies,  passing  Oziel  Smith's  and  Lovejoy's,  which  is 
destined  to  survive  the  general  ruin,  and  remain  a 
monument  for  half  a  century — by  Lovejoy's,  by  Mrs. 
Bemis',  by  two  other  huts,  which  are  to  shelter  Love- 
joy's son  from  the  fire  of  the  Indians  when  he  flies 
for  his  life  —  by  a  Dutchman's  hovel  near  Tupper  street, 
till  we  reach  Deacon  Goodell's  tavern,  on  the  spot  where 
Mr.  Spaulding  now  lives.  This  is  a  little  log  house, 
very  poorly  furnished,  the  last  in  the  village,  and  is 
known  as  the  Teamster's  Tavern.  On  the  way  we 
have  met  several  groups  of  Indian  children  at  their 
sports,  and  been  glad  to  hear,  that,  though  their  fathers 
are  so  grave,  and  their  mothers  so  silent,  and  the  old 
ones  are  grown  voiceless  and  glum,  the  young  ones 
are  still  the  children  of  nature,  having  ability  to  leap, 
and  laugh,  and  shout.  Returning  from  Deacon  Goodell's, 
we  mark,  on  the  west  side  of  Main  street,  a  log  house, 
in  front  of  where  Mr.  Barton  now  lives.  This  is  for 
the  present  Judge  Campbell's  residence.     He  will  soon 


32  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

establish  himself  lower  down,  and  on  the  other  side  of 
the  street.  Near  to  Campbell's  is  Roop's,  and  farther 
south,  at  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Tapper  street,  we 
pass  Judge  Tupper's  house,  taking  note  especially  of 
the  fine  orchard  behind  it.  Near  Chippewa  street 
stands  Henry  Ketchum's  house.  From  behind  his 
barn  the  British  will  fire  on  poor  Lovejoy  when  he 
comes  down  from  Black  Rock,  to  look  after  his  family, 
in  that  day  of  rout  and  fire  and  terror.  And  the  dis- 
tracted father  will  be  compelled  to  turn  and  fly,  though 
he  is  in  sight  of  his  house,  and  knows  not  the  fate  of 
his  wife  and  children.  At  the  corner  of  Huron  street 
is  Elias  Ransom's  tavern.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
way  he  intends  to  erect  a  barn,  which  we  shall  hear 
of  when  it  is  done.  Below  this,  between  Mohawk  and 
Court  streets,  are  St.  John's  Tavern,  then  Townsend 
&  Curtis'  store,  near  the  present  site  of  the  Savings 
Bank,  then  Dr.  Ebenezer  Johnson's,  then  John  Had- 
dock's, then  Samuel  Pratt's,  which  brings  us  back  to 
Eagle  street.  Below,  on  the  west  side  of  Main,  we 
pass  Eli  Hart's  store,  and  Dr.  Chapin's,  and  on  the 
other  side  of  Swan,  Samuel  Pratt's  store,  then  Draper 
&  Daly's  grocery,  then  Robbins'  blacksmith  shop, 
Cook's  barn,  and  finally  his  tavern,  which  brings  us  to 
Seneca  street,  below  which  are  Davis'  store,  and  Gil- 
lett's.  On  the  east  side  of  Main  street,  between  Swan 
and  Seneca,  are  Lewis'  house  and  store,  Grosvenor  & 
Heacock's,  Forward's  house,  the  post  ofl&ce,  Stocking 
&  Bull's  hatter's  shop,  and  Pomeroy's  tavern.  Be- 
tween Seneca  and  Crow  streets  are  Vincent  Grant's 
store  and  Timothy  McEwen's  shoe  shop.     On  the  south 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  33 

side  of  Crow  street  are  Mrs.  Pratt's  and  Landon's, 
with  Johnson's  log  house  still  standing  at  the  east  end 
of  his  garden ;  while  on  the  north  side  are  Le  Cou- 
TEULx's  drug  store,  Hull's  jeweler's  shop,  Foster's 
saddlery,  and  Juba  Storrs'  store.  Judge  Barker's 
house,  Despard's  bakery  and  Reese's  blacksmith  shop 
are  on  what  is  now  Washington  street,  between  Crow 
and  Swan. 

On  the  east  side  of  Pearl  street,  and  south  of  Swan, 
Callender  lives.  North  of  him,  and  on  the  other  side, 
in  the  angle  of  Pearl  and  Erie  streets,  stands  the  school 
house,  south  of  which  is  Folsom's,  while  farther  north, 
and  near  Niagara,  is  the  house  of  Heman  B.  Potter. 
Dr.  Cyrenius  Chapin,  who  tried  to  buy  the  whole 
township,  and  who  was  forward  in  so  many  endeavors 
for  the  public  good,  lived  near  where  Dr.  Trowbridge 
now  lives,  on  Swan  street.  This  is  the  village  of 
Buffalo  in  1812. 

There  are  four  or  five  little  vessels  on  the  lake  car- 
rying merchandise  to  Erie  or  Detroit,  and  bringing 
back  whiskey  to  Grosvenor  &  Heacock,  or  whitefish  to 
Sill,  or  furs  to  the  as-euts.  Mi\  Peter  Colt  informs 
the  readers  of  the  Gazette^  that  the  new  sloop  Friend 
Goodwill  runs  from  her  wharf  at  Black  Rock  to  De- 
troit and  back,  having  good  accommodations  and  a 
well-furnished  cabin,  at  the  moderate  sum  of  twelve 
dollars  for  passengers,  and  one  and  a  half  per  barrel, 
for  merchandise. 

The  eastern  mail,  by  way  of  Batavia,  arrives  once  a 
week,  unless  the  roads  prevent,  being  brought  in  a 
covered  wagon  by  Mr.  Ira  Metcalf,  an  energetic  and 


34  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


honest  man,  well  esteemed  of  all  who  know  him.  The 
western  mail  goes  out  once  a  fortnight,  under  the 
charge  of  brave  John  Edwards,  who  travels  now  on  foot, 
or  now  on  horseback,  as  his  burden  and  the  .state  of 
the  roads  may  chance  to  suggest.  The  nearest  post 
offices  are  Erie  on  the  west,  and  Niagara  on  the  north. 
Not  less  than  twenty  families  per  day  pass  through  the 
village  on  their  way  to  the  West,  halting  here,  some- 
times to  rest  their  jaded  horses,  sometimes  to  restore 
their  sick,  sometimes  to  bury  their  dead.  A  mother, 
with  her  children,  stops  at  Landon's.  They  are  going 
to  New  Connecticut  to  join  the  husband  and  father, 
who  has  at  last  cleared  his  acres,  and  put  up  his  log 
hut,  and  awaits  the  arrival  of  the  loved  ones  from  the 
East.  The  oldest  boy  has  fallen  sick  on  the  road,  or 
the  daughter,  or  perhaps  the  mother  herself,  worn  out 
with  care  and  labor.  And  good  Mrs.  Landon  must  go 
to  the  grave  with  her  stranger  guests,  and  send  for- 
ward, next  day,  the  mother  bereft,  or  the  children 
motherless. 

Occasionally  the  village  is  astir  with  tidings  that  a 
Sheriff  has  arrived  from  some  city  or  town  in  the  East, 
when  certain  of  the  more  sensitive  sort,  finding  that 
they  have  pressing  business  in  Canada,  quit  their  cups 
at  Landon's,  or  their  gaming  tables  at  Cook's,  and 
make  haste  to  reach  the  safer  shore  of  the  Niagara. 
Such  is  Buffalo  in  itself 

Now,  if  we  take  a  wider  glance,  and  view  the 
Church  which  Osgood  had  just  set  up,  in  its  relations 
to  the  surrounding  territory,  and  to  sister  churches, 
we   find   that   in    1812,  there   were   upon    the   Holland 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.       .  35 

Purchase,  that  is,  upon  that  portion  of  the  State  of 
New  York  which  lies  west  of  the  Genesee  river,  25,000 
inhabitants,  nine-tenths  of  whom  were  poor,  and  ninety- 
nine-hundredths  of  them  living  on  little  clearings,  in 
log  houses.  To  illumine  this  vast  wilderness,  there 
were,  at  that  time,  four  little  churches  in  the  territory 

—  one  at  Warsaw,  fifty  •  miles  east,  founded  in  1807, 
and  having  thirty  members,  but  no  pastor;  one  at  Og- 
den,  ten  miles  this  side  of  Rochester,  founded  in  1811, 
with  ten  members;  one  at  Pomfret,  founded  in  1810, 
with  twelve  members;  and  our  mother  Church,  with 
her  twenty-five  members.  These  were  the  luminaries 
that  in  that  early  night  shone  down  on  a  domain  of 
more  than  four  millions  of  acres. 

A  clergyman  who  passed  through  this  region  in  the 
Spring  of  1813,  wrote  to  the  Payioplist : — 

''In  the  Holland  Purchase  there  is  a  wide  field  for 
missionary  labor.  This  tract  is  about  ninety  miles 
square.  In  the  southern  parts  of  it,  there  are  a  vast 
number  of  people,  and  I  think  but  two  churches 
formed,  and  these  small.  In  some  places,  I  hear,  lately, 
there  is  a  degree  of  religious  excitement  in  the  minds 
of  the  people." 

As  I  said,  the  infant  Church  in  Buffalo  had  begun 
to  exist,  but  had  no  pastor.  The  people  celebrated 
worship  on  the  Sabbath  and  during  the  week  as  best 
they  could.      So  passed  the  first  year  of  their  history, 

—  the  first,  and  eleven  months  of  the  second,  when 
the  village  was  invaded,  its  inhabitants  put  to  flight, 
its  houses  burned,  and  the  Church,  seemingly  riven 
into  fragments,  was  swept   by  the  sudden  tornado  into 


36  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

the  wilderness  for  a  retreat.  On  that  terrible  winter 
night,  the  30th  of  December,  1813,  when  mothers  and 
daughters,  and  men,  some  in  wagons,  some  on  foot, 
rushed  over  the  frozen  ground  into  the  sheltering 
woods,  and,  looking  back  from  the  nearest  hill-tops, 
saw  the  village  on  fire,  while  through  the  darkness 
came  the  yell  of  the  victorious  savages, — who  that  has 
ever  read  the  story  will  forget  what  the  exiles  of  Buf- 
falo suffered  in  those  few  hours  of  terror  and  flight? 
Hyde  hurries  away  in  a  one-horse  wagon,  to  the  reser- 
vation, to  take  shelter  with  the  Indians.  Callender 
goes  to  Batavia.  The  others  disperse,  some  to  Ham- 
burgh, some  to  Willink,  some  to  Clarence  —  opening 
ofl&ces  and  stores,  and  trying  to  tide  over  till  Spring, 
when  they  hope  to  return  and  rebuild  their  desolated 
village.  In  the  Spring  they  begin  to  come  back. 
House  after  house  goes  up.  By  the  first  of  June  there 
are  in  the  village  twenty-three  dwellings,  occupied  by 
families,  three  taverns,  and  four  dry  goods  stores.  So 
soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  the  members  of  the 
Church  are  here,  they  commence  worship  again.  But 
the  Court  House  no  longer  stands,  and  till  that  is  re- 
built, they  must  convene  sometimes  in  Townsend  & 
Coit's  new  store,  sometimes  at  Ransom's  tavern,  or  in 
the  attic  of  Mr.  Callender's  house  on  Pearl  street. 
By  the  Summer  of  1815,  the  town  is  fully  restored. 
But  calamity  and  war,  and  the  consequent  interruption 
of  travel  and  paralysis  of  traded  have  made  money 
scarce  and  provisions  dear,  and  the  people,  though  re- 
stored to  their  homesteads,  are  hard  beset  to  meet  the 
wants  of  their  families.     As  there  are  not  beds  enough 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  37 

for  the  lodgers,  each  house  must  accommodate  board- 
ers. Flour  is  $15  a  barrel,  potatoes  $1.50  per  bushel, 
butter  50  cts.  per  lb.,  milk  12  cts.  per  quart,  cheese 
42  cts.  per  lb.,  meats  12|^  cts.,  fowls  $1.00  a  pair, 
shirting  5s.  6d.  per  yard,  tea  12s.  per  lb.,  coffee  3s. 
per  lb.,  sugar  3s.  per  lb.,  a  hat  $8.00,  a  plug  of  tobacco 
2s.,  nails  2s.  per  lb.,  powder  8s.  per  lb.  But  the  peo- 
ple struggle  on,  and  now  that  prosperity  begins  to 
dawn,  and  the  Church  is  more  than  three  years  old,  it  is 
time  to  look  in  earnest  for  some  one  to  take  charge  of 
them,  and  be  pastor  of  the  restored  and  enfeebled 
flock.  Atkins  and  Seely  are  dead,  but  the  Church 
must  have  a  shepherd.  Where  shall  he  be  found? 
Whom  will  the  Lord  send  to  take  charge  of  this  flock 
in  the  desert?  At  Utica  there  has  been  formed  a 
young  people's  Missionary  Society  for  Western  New 
York.  This  Society,  in  the  year  1815,  employed  a 
young  licentiate  from  Vermont,  a  student  of  Andover, 
to  travel  through  the  western  settlements  and  obtain 
information  and  organize  auxiliaries.  This  young  man, 
then  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  arrived  in  Buffalo  early 
in  August. 

Mr.  Callender,  who  had  been  clerk  in  Grosvenor 
&  Heacock's  store  since  the  buraing  of  the  town,  had 
erected  and  covered  a  small  house  on  Pearl  street,  and 
without  waiting  for  the  plasterers,  had  brought  his 
family  from  their  log  house,  at  the  Cold  Spring,  and 
in  January,  1816,  commenced  housekeejoing,  hospitality, 
a  school  on  week  days,  and  on  the  Sabbath,  meetings 
for  the  worship  of  God.  To  this  point  the  stranger 
directs  his  jaded  horse,  and  on  a  warm  August  morning. 


38  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

Mr.  Callender  makes  acquaintance  with  his  destined  pas- 
tor, the  Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier.  Mr.  Squier  becomes  the 
guest  of  Mr.  Potter,  remains  in  town  two  weeks,  preach- 
ing in  an  unfinished  hall  in  Landon's  tavern.  When  he 
left,  he  had  in  his  pocket  a  written  request,  signed  by 
many  of  the  people,  asking  him  to  remain  a  year, 
on  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars.  Three  months 
later  he  re-visited  Buffalo,  preaching  in  Kibbe's  tavern, 
which,  either  because  it  soared  above  all  the  others  or 
had  reasons  which  it  did  not  divulge  for  its  name,  took 
the  somewhat  lofty  and  remarkable  sobriquet  of  the 
Eagle.  In  December  the  people  united  in  an  ecclesi- 
astical society,  appointed  Holt,  and  Sill,  and  Harrison, 
and  Stocking,  and  Frederick  Miller,  and  Heman  B. 
Potter,  trustees,  assumed  the  title  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Society  of  Buffalo,  and  on  the  16th  of  January, 
1816,  called  the  Rev.  Mr.  Squier,  on  a  salary  of  one 
thousand  dollars,  payable  entirely  by  private  subscrip- 
tions. How  they  were  ever  made  to  believe  that  they 
could  raise  that  sum,  or  what  assurance  the  young 
pastor  had  of  their  extravagant,  and  as  they  proved, 
uncertain  pledges,  does  not  now  appear.  On  the  31st 
of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Squier  signified  his  acceptance 
of  the  call,  and  was  ordained  on  Friday,  the  3d  of 
May,  1816.  The  interesting  ceremony  of  inducting  into 
office  the  first  pastor  of  the  first  church  of  the  then 
infant  town,  took  place  in  a  new  barn  belonging  to 
Elias  Ransom,  standing  on  the  east  side  of  Main  street, 
just  north  of  what  is  now  Genesee  street,  and  nearly 
opposite  to  Ransom's  tavern,  which  stood  on  the  lot 
occupied    now    by  Sidway's    store.       The  Court  House 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  39 

was  not  completed;  Mr.  Callender's  attic  was  too 
small ;  so  was  the  school  house ;  so  was  the  room  in 
the  Eagle  tavern.  There  would  be  a  large  attendance ; 
people  would  come  from  adjoining  towns ;  there  was 
no  other  alternative,  Ransom  must  fit  up  his  barn, 
which  had  been  raised  and  covered,  but  never  used ; 
must  make  it  a  sanctuary,  before  it  could  become 
a  hostelry.  The  good-natured  taverner,  moved  by 
his  own  kindness,  moved  even  more,  perhaps,  by  the 
entreaties  of  his  daughter  Sarah,  who  had  just  come 
from  Miss  Pierce's  school,  at  Litchfield,  and  joined  the 
church  on  a  letter  of  recommendation  fi'om  Dr.  Beech- 
ER,  consented.  Extempore  benches  were  made,  a  little 
platform  built,  and  Ransom's  barn  was  for  a  time  a 
temple,  which  neither  God  nor  his  people  despised. 
That  3d  day  of  May,  1816,  was  a  day  to  be  remem- 
bered in  Buffalo.  The  place  of  meeting,  the  congrega- 
tion, the  ministers  present,  the  singers,  the  services, 
all  were  of  a  character  to  leave  a  deep  impression 
upon  the  minds,  even  of  the  children,  who  attended. 
There,  among  the  ministers,  was  noble  John  Spencer, 
who,  having  been  in  Buffalo  to  look  after  Christ's  sheep 
every  year  since  1809,  had  come  over  now,  from  his 
residence  on  the  Canadawa  Creek,  to  charge  the  new 
shepherd  to  take  heed  to  himself  and  the  flock  en- 
trusted to  his  care.  And  there  was  Dr.  Axtell,  the 
able  and  well-known  pastor  of  the  church  in  Geneva, 
who  was  here  to  preach  the  ordination  sermon,  and 
three  others  the  ensuing  Sabbath.  Hubbard,  from 
Warsaw,  was  present  too,  to  deliver  the  charge  to  the 
people.       But    look  at  this   noble  group  of    singers  on 


40  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

the  east  side,  and  north  of  the  platform.  There  are 
Deacon  Stocking,  and  Mr.  Coit,  and  Gen.  Potter,  and 
Glen.  Storrs,  and  Mr.  Grosvenor,  and  Mr.  Pratt,  and 
Mr.  Cutler,  now  of  Rochester,  and  Mrs.  Heacock,  and 
Mrs.  Marshall,  and  Mrs.  Kibbe,  and  Mrs.  Fields,  Mrs. 
Haddock,  and  others,  led  by  Deacon  Callender,  who 
will  be  sure  not  to  flat  the  key  to-day.  They  have 
learnt  two  new  tunes  for  the  occasion,  St.  Asaph's  and 
Pleyel's  Second.  And  the  hymns  happily  we  have  two 
of  them.  Must  it  not  have  been  with  an  emphasis  and 
a  meaning  that  those  servants  of  song,  full  of  the 
memories  of  other  days,  chanted  together, 

In  each  event  of  life,  how  clear, 
Thy  ruHng  hand  I  see. 

And  was  there  not  something  prophetic  in  their 
melody,  when,  with  power  and  earnestness,  and  up- 
lifted voice,  they  told  the  rafters,  and  told  the  people, 
and  told  to  passers  by  on  the  street,  yes,  and  sent  the 
echo  to  the  ears  of  the  savage  and  the  stranger,  that 

Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun, 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run. 

It  was  observed  that  Mr.  Callender  took  care  to 
bring  his  tuning  fork  to  church  that  day.  The  ordi- 
nation services  were  held  in  the  forenoon.  In  the 
afternoon  Mr.  Smith,  a  strolling  preacher,  of  the  Uni- 
versalist  order,  having  given  notice  of  his  intention,  in 
the  streets,  held  forth  in  the  same  barn,  Mr.  Cal- 
lender was  requested  to  be  present  and  lead  the 
singing,  a  service  which  he  very  resolutely  declined. 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  41 

Having  received  charge  of  the  congregation,  Mr, 
Squier  devoted  himself  at  once  to  his  proper  work  He 
preached  sermons,  and  dehvercd  addresses,  and  pubhshed 
articles,  exhorting  the  people  to  all  due  endeavors  to 
enforce  order  and  set  a  curb  on  vice,  and  erect  a  vir- 
tuous, loyal  and  happy  community.  The  people  valued 
his  labors  and  were  prompt  to  second  them.  They 
formed  a  so(^ety  to  promote  public  morals,  engaged 
to  abstain  themselves,  and  so  far  as  they  had  influence 
or  power,  to  hinder  others  from  Sabbath-breaking  and 
the  vices  to  which  it  so  commonly  leads.  The  next 
Sabbath,  all  the  stores  in  the  village  were  closed. 
Eight  persons,  of  whom  one  was  the  ever-to-be-remem- 
bered Deacon  Joseph  Stocking,  joined  the  church 
in  1816.  The  next  year  thirty-seven,  and  the  next 
thirty-four,  were  added.  Of  these  were  the  two  broth- 
ers, Ja]\ies  and  David  Remington,  who  entered  and  hon- 
ored the  christian  ministry.  David  Remington,  was  a 
young  man  of  superior  talents,  affectionate  temper,  and 
devoted  piety.  He  was  therefore  a  great  favorite 
among  all  who  knew  him.  Having  finished  an  educa- 
tion by  the  aid  of  the  church,  and  especially  of  the 
ladies  of  the  church,  he  was  married  in  1821  to  Miss 
Esther  Low,  a  teacher  among  the  Senecas,  and  receiv- 
ing an  appointment  from  the  American  Board,  went 
forth  as  a  missionary  teacher  to  the  Choctaws,  in 
Georgia.  The  distance  to  that  far-off  country  was  then 
so  great,  and  the  delays  and  perils  of  travel  so  ex- 
treme, that  the  parents  and  friends  of  Mr.  Remington 
took  an  affectionate  leave  of  him,  never  expecting  to 
see  his  face  as-ain  on  earth. 


42  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

Three  years  afterward,  his  health  failing,  he  returned, 
completed  his  education,  was  licensed  and  became 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Rye,  in  this  State,  where  he 
died  suddenly  of  disease  of  the  heart.  His  brother, 
the  Rev.  James  Remington,  is  well-known  in  this 
region,  being  now  the  honored  and  venerated  pastor 
of  the  church  in  Alden. 

In  September,  1816,  the  Buffalo  Femalg  Bible  Soci- 
ety was  organized,  with  Mrs.  Heacock  for  President, 
and  Miss  Campbell,  Secretary.  This  Society  collected 
the  first  year,  one  hundred  and  fourteen  dollars,  and 
spent  ninety;  distributed  one  hundred  and  thirty- two 
Bibles ;  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  tracts  and  cate- 
chisms, and  had  on  hand  thirty  Bibles  and  thirteen 
hundred  tracts  and  catechisms.  In  August,  1817,  the 
Buffalo  Sunday  School  Society  was  formed. 

In  February,  1817,  the  first  Episcopal  Society  was 
organized  in  this  village.  In  August,  of  the  same  year. 
President  Monroe  was  here,  and  in  the  succeeding 
September,  Joseph  Bonaparte.  It  was  during  this 
summer  of  1817,  also,  that  the  Senecas  suffered  so 
extremely  from  famine.  There  were  fourteen  deaths  in 
Buffalo  during  the  year  1818.  Of  these,  three  were 
strangers,  ten  children,  and  four  adults. 

In  July,  1818,  Mr.  Henry  R.  Seymour  joined  the 
church;  a  man,  whose  simplicity,  sincerity,  integrity, 
accompanied  as  they  were,  by  unceasing  liberality 
towards  every  good  cause,  do  lasting  honor  to  his 
memory,  as  they  did  enduring  good  to  the  church. 

Matters  were  wearing  a  prosperous  look  in  the  young 
church,  except  that    in   November  of    this   year,  •1818, 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  43 

the  trustees  found  themselves  compelled  to  announce 
that  the  subscription  for  Mr.  Squier's  salary  was  quite 
inadequate  to  the  use  to  which  it  was  to  be  put.  A 
new  subscription  was  ordered,  and  Heman  B.  Potter, 
and  Deacon  Stocking,  and  Mr.  Sill,  and  Jasper  Corn- 
ing, and  Holt,  who  joined  the  church  ten  months 
before,  were  commissioned  to  circulate  and  enforce  it. 
They  did  their  work  thoroughly,  reporting  the  names 
of  one  hundred  and  five  subscribers,  and  an  aggregate 
of  $820  a  year  pledged  to  the  Society's  account  for 
salary.  It  speaks  well  for  the  character  of  the  then 
leading  men  in  Buffalo,  that  three-fourths  of  this  sum 
was  contributed  by  persons  who  were  not  yet  members 
of  the  church.  But  eight  hundred  and  twenty  dollars 
promised,  are  not  eight  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  in 
hand,  and  if  .they  were,  they  could  not  pay  a  salary 
of  a  thousand  dollars.  We  shall  look  for  trouble, 
therefore,  from  the  subsequent  meetings  of  such  ac- 
complished trustees  as  Potter,  and  Stocking,  and 
Sill,  and  Corning,  and  Holt.  Certain  other  events, 
however,  have  a  more  favorable  look.  There  is  a 
prospect  that  Mr.  Ellicott  will  acceede  to  the  request 
of  the  people,  and  give  them  a  lot  on  which  to  build 
a  house  of  worship.  Perhaps  he  will  add,  as  he  has 
done  in  Batavia,  a  gift  of  a  thousand  dollars  towards 
the  building,  if  it  be  of  wood,  or  fifteen  hundred  if  of 
brick.  Moreover,  two  years  ago,  Jasper  Corning, 
brother  of  Mrs.  Townsend,  took  up  his  residence  here, 
and  in  1816  was  appointed  first  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  School. 

On  the  whole,   1819    opens   with    somewhat  cloudy 


44  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

prospects.  Money  is  so  scarce  that  purchasers  are 
unable  to  pay,  in  cash,  two  dollars  a  barrel  for 
flour,  though  it  is  offered  for  that  in  market.  But 
there  are  courageous  and  generous  souls  in  Buffalo, 
notwithstanding.  The  Methodists  have  built  a  house  of 
worship,  the  first  on  the  Holland  Purchase,  in  the  brief 
space  of  forty-eight  days.  This  house,  thirty-five  feet 
by  twenty-five,  stood  on  the  west  side  of  Pearl  street, 
a  little  south  of  Niagara.  At  this  time  there  were 
supposed  to  be  two  thousand  Methodists  on  the  Purchase. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Fillmore,  the  first  pastor  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church  in  Buffalo,  is  now  a  resident  of  Clarence, 
engaged  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  At  the  present 
time  there  are,  in  this. city,  seven  Methodist  churches, 
under  the  care  of  five  pastors,  having  an  aggregate  of 
about  a  thousand  communicants,  three  thousand  attend- 
ants upon  worship,  and  fifteen  hundred  children  in  the 
Sabbath  Schools.  In  March,  1819,  in  the  midst  of 
great  pecuniary  privations,  the  ladies  of  the  First 
Church,  made  their  pastor  a  Life  Director  of  the  West- 
ern Education  Society,  by  a  donation  of  fifty  dollars. 
The  trustees,  willing  to  attempt  any  generous,  or  even 
impossible  deed,  appointed  a  committee,  this  year,  to 
provide  a  house  of  worship  for  the  congregation,  and 
a  parsonage  for  the  minister,  neither  of  which  could  be 
accomplished.  Baffled  in  their  endeavors,  and  unwilling 
to  incur  responsibilities  which  they  were  unable  to 
meet,  these  faithful  men  laid  the  matter  before  the 
congregation,  when,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1819,  it 
was  unanimously  voted  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Squier  have 
leave  to  missionate  twelve  Sabbaths  of  the  ensuing 'year 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  45 

for  his  own  benefit,  upon  his  reducing  his  salary  the 
sum  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  During  this, 
the  third  year  of  Mr.  Squier's  ministry,  twenty-two 
persons  joined  the  church,  one  of  whom  was  Henry 
HoisiNGTON,  afterward  the  well-known  missionar}^,  a 
diligent  minister,  a  thorough  scholar,  whose  memory 
and  his  works  remain,  though,  alas,  he  has  departed. 
Mr.  Hiram  Pratt,  another  of  the  pillars  of  this  congre- 
gation, whose  house  was  ever  open,  and  his  hand  ever 
ready  to  help  the  cause  he  loved ;  who  could  contribute, 
or  counsel,  or  toil,  or  do  anything  that  needed  to  be 
done,  to  set  forward  the  growing  church,  was  received 
to  fellowship  in  September,   1.820. 

This  year,  1820,  brought  with  it  the  trials,  the  suc- 
cesses and  the  doubts,  which  its  immediate  antecedents 
were  so  certain  to  produce.  Thirteen  persons  were 
added  to  the  church,  but  the  subscriptions  were  inade- 
quate, and  the  trustees  perplexed,  so  that  at  their 
meeting,  December  21st,  they  could  do  no  otherwise 
than  vote  that  the  committee  be  instructed  henceforth, 
to  offer  the  pastor  only  what  money  should  be  received 
from  the  subscriptions.  In  1821,  eleven  joined  the 
church,  one  of  whom,  Mr.  Joseph  Dart,  is  still  a 
member.  lii  the  summer  of  this  year,  1821,  Mr.  Dart 
and  Miss  Eunice  Hosmer,  who  was  then  the  teacher  of 
a  day  school  in  the  village,  and  who  afterwards  be- 
came a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  in  the  North  West, 
commenced  a  mission  Sabbath  School,  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  our  history.  It  was  held  every  Sabbath  after- 
noon in  a  log  school  house,  at  what  is  now  the  junc- 
tion of    Genesee  and   High   streets,  near   the    tollgate. 


46  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

But  as  Genesee  street  had  not  then  been  opened,  they 
could  reach  the  school  house  only  by  a  bridle  path 
which  ran  along  the  ridge  where  Allen  street  is  now. 
They  gathered  together  from  twelve  to  twenty  untaught 
children,  kept  the  school  alive  for  three  years,  were 
permitted  to  witness  some  saving  results,  when  the 
roads  being  opened,  the  school  was  transferred  to  the 
church.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1821,  the  clerk 
reported  that  four  members  had  died,  ten  had  been 
dismissed,  and  one  suspended:  twenty-six  babes  had 
been  baptised,  and  there  were  one  hundred  and  nine- 
teen communicants  then  in  the  church. 

In  1822,  twenty-nine  united  with  the  church,  among 
whom  were  Abner  Bryant,  received  on  profession  of 
his  faith,  Moses  Bristol,  by  certificate  from  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Manlius,  and  Lemuel  Johnson,  an 
elder  of  the  church  in  Auburn.  Mr.  Johnson,  was 
soon  invited  to  act  as  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church, 
whose  session  then  consisted  of  Messrs.  Goodell, 
Stocking,  Callender,  Hyde  and  Johnson.  Four  of  the 
members  died,  twenty-three  were  dismissed,  twenty- 
eight  had  been  baptised,  one  suspended,  and  the  whole 
number  of  communicants  was  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

Up  to  this  time  the  people  had  no  fixed  place  of 
worship.  Wherever  they  could  find  a  convenient  and 
available  room,  whether  at  Callender's,  or  at  Ran- 
som's, or  the  school  house,  or  in  the  court  room,  they 
convened.  For  a  time,  they  had  worshiped  in  Ran- 
som's barn,  then  in  the  hall  of  his  tavern,  then  in  the 
Court  House,  till  the  Supervisors  becoming  uneasy, 
they  removed   to   a  rickety  school   house,  which   stood 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  47 


north  of  the  present  church,  on  the  other  side  of  Ni- 
agara street.  The  pastor  became  cliscourag-cd  now, 
and  was  making  up  his  mind  to  leave,  when  the  judi- 
cious and  gentle  Mrs.  Squier,  finding  a  fit  text,  re- 
quested her  husband  to  preach,  the  next  Sabbath,  from 
Hag.  i:  8.  He  consented,  and  when  the  Lord's  day 
arrived,  the  people  heard  a  very  timely  exhortation, 
no  doubt,  from  the  words  of  the  prophet:  "Go  up 
to  the  mountain,  and  bring  wood,  and  build  tlie 
house,  and  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it.  and  be  glorified, 
saith'the  Lord." 

The  next  Sabbath  Mr.  Squier  exchanged,  or  had 
assistance ;  and  the  preacher,  not  knowing  what  had 
taken  place  the  week  before,  opened  to  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Haggai,  and  read  again,  with  simplicity  and 
much  emphasis,  the  admonition  to  go  up  to  the  moun- 
tain, and  bring  wood,  and  build  a  house  for  the  Lord. 
When  Monday  morning  arrived,  it  saw  a  subscription 
paper  flying  from  house  to  house,  and  hand  to  hand, 
and  soon  the  trustees  had  assurances  which  said  agaiu. 
Get  the  wood,  and  build  the  house. 

They  came  together  to  deliberate.  EllicotT'  liad 
given  them  a  lot,  but  no  money.  Nor  did  they  need 
any.  This  church  has  never  been  obliged,  from  the 
day  it  was  formed,  to  ask  aid  from  abroad.  On  the 
24th  of  December,  1822,  the  committee  were  author- 
ized to  contract  with  John  Stacy,  for  a  house  of  wor- 
ship, forty  by  fifty  feet,  to  be  erected  on  the  north  cor- 
ner of  their  lot,  at  a  cost  of  $874,  deducting  the  price 
of  a  pew  which  Mr.  Stacy  desired  to  build  for  his  own 
use.      In  May,  the  edifice  was   finished,  and   the   pews 


48  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

sold  for  one  hundred  dollars  more  than  the  building 
had  cost.  The  house  fronted  eastward,  was  entered 
by  two  doors,  between  which  stood  the  pulpit,  and 
over  against  it,  on  the  west  end  of  the  audience  room, 
a  platform  for  the  singers.  The  pews  were  square, 
and  the  house  was  lighted  at  evening  by  candles,  sup- 
plied by  the  worshipers.  The  choir  was  led  by  Mr. 
Hamlin,  and  consisted  of  Mr.  Coit,  Mr.  Dart,  Mr. 
Wilcox,  Mr.  Pratt,  Mr.  Seymour,  Mr.  Ketchum,  Gen- 
eral Stores,  Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Heacock,  Mrs.  Kibbe, 
Mrs.  Seymour,  Mrs.  Heacock,  Mrs.  Marshall,  Mrs.  Hol- 
LisTER,  Charlotte  and  Lydia  Callender,  Mary  Cot- 
ton, Miss  Pratt,  and  others  whose  names  I  cannot 
certainly  command. 

This  first  house  of  worship  served  the  congregation 
till  1828,  when  it  was  sold  to  the  Methodists,  and 
moved  to  Niagara  street.  Afterwards  it  was  sold  to 
the  Germans,  and  taken  to  Genesee  street,  whence  it 
was  at  length  removed  to  Walnut  street,  where  it  is 
now  used  as  a  tenement  house. 

There  were,  in  1823,  three  houses  of  worship  in  the 
village — that  of  the  Methodists,  on  Pearl  street;  that 
of  the  Episcopalians,  on  their  lot,  south  of  ours;  and 
that  erected  by  this  society.         j^ 

During  the  year  1823,  it  had  become  evident  that 
no  effort,  not  even  the  resolute  and  well  nigh  resistless 
appeals  of  Reuben  Heacock,  who  went  around  with 
the  subscription  paper,  and  to  whose  solicitations,  on 
any  subject,  few  were  accustomed  to  say  No,  could 
redeem  the  pledge  of  a  thousand  dollars,  and  pay 
arrears,    and    interest,    and    salary,    and    expenses.      In 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  49 


November,  therefore,  Mr.  Squier  concluded  to  lay  down 
his  charge,  and  the  trustees  made  a  .final  endeavor  to 
cancel  their  dues  to  him.  He  relinquished  his  post 
January  1st,  1824,  having  filled  the  pastoral  ofiice 
seven  and  a  half  years.  During  that  time  he  had  ad- 
mitted to  the  church  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  mem- 
bers, and  witnessed  the  beginnings  of  a  new  order  of 
existence,  of  intelligence,  of  virtue,  of  thrift,  of  promise. 
He  and  the  people  were  especially  fortunate,  in  having 
the  aid  and  the  counsel  of  those  noble  men,  whom 
Buffalo  will  not  soon  forget,  the  elders  of  the  church, 
and  the  trustees  of  the  society.  The  urbane  and 
courtly  Holt,  who  presided  at  the  board,  where  sat 
the  systematic  Potter,  the  judicious  Sill,  Stocking 
the  faithful,  and  Callender  the  strong,  with  the  fervid 
and  powerful  Heacock,  and  Walden,  the  meditative, 
and  taciturn,  and  wise, — who  but  such  as  these  could 
have  carried  an  infant  and  helpless  church  through 
seven  years  of  severest  trial,  collecting  from  voluntary 
contributions,  and  paying  out,  in  all,  an  aggregate  of 
more  than  ten  thousand  dollars? 

And  whenever  Mr.  Squier  met  his  session,  he  looked 
on  men,  the  like  of  whom  it  is  not  easy  to  find  in  any 
of  the  churches.  Bryant  —  do  I  need  to  describe 
him?  —  a  man  to  whom  sacrifices  and  good  works  were 
welcome  as  was  existence;  who  could  watch  sixteen 
successive  nights  with  a  sick  neighbor,  and  neither 
tire  nor  complain ;  and  Stocking,  who  carried  the 
heart  of  the  church^  inside  his  own  lieart,  and  could 
never  distinguish  which  was  his,  and  which  the 
church's  ;     and    Hyde,    the   zealous    Christian,    and   the 


50  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


skillful  teacher;  with  Callender,  who  could  counsel, 
or  sing,  or  attend  a  funeral,  or  do  any  other  good 
thing  that  was  needed;  and  Goodell,  and  Johnson, 
and  Bristol,  who  bears  fruit  still  —  well  may  Mr. 
Squier,  in  his  seventy-first  year,  write,  as  he  does,  re- 
membering his  early  associates,  that  never  had  a  pastor 
a  more  reliable  body  of  advisers;  and  that,  for  eight 
years,  there  was  never  a  divided  vote  in  that  session. 
But  where  are  the  men  and  women  who  associated 
and  worshiped  in  those  early  assemblies?  A  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  persons,  more  than  sixty  males,  more 
than  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  other  sex,  had  en- 
tered into  covenant  with  the  church  in  the  twelve 
years  since  it  was  founded.  What  has  become  of 
them?  How  many  remain?  Looking  at  the  cata- 
logue, of  the  twenty-nine  who  formed  the  church  at  its 
origin,  but  one  is  living.  Of  those  who  joined  in 
1816,  all  are  gone.  So  of  the  twenty-seven  who  joined 
in  1817.  Though  several  of  them  survive,  no^t  one  is 
now  connected  with  this  church.  So  of  the  thirty-four 
who  joined  in  1818.  Mrs.  E.  D.  Efner  alone,  of  those 
who  joined  in  1819,  retains  her  place.  Miss  Mary 
Cotton  and  Miss  Ann  Field  are  the  sole  remaining 
members  of  1820.  Mr.  Joseph  Dart,  of  1821;  Mrs. 
SiLA.s  Fobes  and  Dr.  Bristol,  of  '22 ;  none  of  '23. 
That  is  to  say,  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
whom  Mr.  Squier  received  to  the  church  during  his 
pastorate,  six,  and  only  six,  are  members  still.  The  rest, 
like  sheaves  of  the  harvest,  have  been  removed  from 
the  hands  of  the  reaper, — some  of  them  to  the  garner 
on  high,  some  to   the  waiting  seed  fields  of  the  West- 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSEl.  51 

Leaving  BuiFalo,  Mr.  Squier  became  connected,  in 
one  capacity  and  another,  with  the  home  missionary 
cause,  and  that  of  Christian  education,  till,  a  few  years 
ago,  he  was  elected  to  a  professorship  in  Beloit  College, 
a  post  which  he  fills  with  honor  and  efficiency  to  the 
present  time,  though  he  has  passed  his  seventieth  year. 

Mr.  Thaddeus  Joy,  who  had  been  in  Buffalo  two 
years,  made  haste  to  inform  the  people  of  the  virtues 
and  abilities  of  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Crawford,  whom  he 
had  heard  and  known  during  his  residence  in  the 
town  of  Le  Roy.  Mr.  Crawford  was  born  in  Scot- 
land, in  1792,  was  educated  in  Edinburgh,  and  had 
been  a  student  of  theology  at  Princeton,  in  this  coun- 
try. A  genuine  Scotchman,  devout,  able,  and  bearing 
in  his  nature  the  peculiarities  and  the  strength  of  his 
inflexible  race ;  impetuous,  and  perhaps  a  little  impa- 
tient at  times,  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  serious,  exem- 
plary and  powerful  man,  a  saint  honored  of  the  church, 
a  minister  approved  of  God.  He  soon  accepted  the  call 
of  the  people,  and  in  May,  1824,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
two,  was  installed,  on  a  salary  wisely  adjusted  to  the 
abilities  of  the  people,  and  reflecting,  no  doubt,  many  of 
the  remembrances  of  former  times  —  a  salary,  that  is,  of 
six  hundred  dollars.  During  his  stay  of  a  little  more 
than  five  years,  there  were  added  to  the  church  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  new  members,  among  whom 
are  the  names  of  Marshall,  and  Potter,  and  Corr, 
and  Allen,  and  Babcock,  and  Russell,  and  Hamlin, 
and  Pratt,  and  Grosvenor,  and  Joy,  and  Taintor. 

In    1824,    Mr.    Squier    had    left    one    hundred    and 
twenty  resident  members  still   in  the  church.      At   the 


52  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

departure  of  Mr.  Crawford,  the  list  had  swollen  to 
two  hundred  and  three.  The  annual  accessions,  under 
the  first  pastor,  averaged  twenty,  the  losses  seven. 
Under  the  second  pastor,  the  yearly  increase  was  thirty, 
while  the  annual  removals  had  amounted  to  ten.  Du- 
ring Mr.  Crawford's  pastorate,  Russell,  and  Clary, 
and  CuRTiss,  and  Scott,  and  Miller,  and  Marshall, 
and  TowNSEND,  and  Pratt,  and  Ketchum,  took  their 
places  in  the  board  of  trustees,  while  Bryant  and 
Bristol  were  added  to  the  bench  of  the  elders.  In 
July,  1825,  the  church  was  made  sad  by  the  intelli- 
gence that  Deacon  and  Mrs.  Goodell  had  determined 
to  remove  to  New  England.  Letters  were  made  out, 
and  pastor,  and  session,  and  people  were  getting  ready 
to  say  their  adieus,  w<hen,  in  December,  the  Lord 
having  some  better  thing  in  store  for  him,  he  returned 
his  letters,  and  took  his  seat  again  in  the  sessions  of 
the  elders.  Though  in  his  fiftieth  year,  he  had  as  yet 
acquired  only  a  small  estate.  How  his  property  in- 
creased the  next  twenty-five  years,  and  what  he  did 
with  it,  many  of  you  are  not  too  young  to  remember. 
With  a  mind  not  over  fertile,  and  habits  of  extreme 
personal  economy,  he  was,  nevertheless,  wont  to  speak 
of  himself  as  the  Lord's  steward,  having  in  charge  an 
estate  which  was  not  his  own.  His  will,  made  several 
years  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1851,  was 
an  exposition  of  what  he  intended  by  the  phrase  stew- 
ardship for  God.      In  that  instrument  he  gave, — 

To  the  Female  Academy  in  this  city,  $10,500. 

To  the  Orphan  Asylum,  $1,000. 

To  the  Society  for  the  Rehef  of  the  Poor,  $1,000. 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  53 

To  city  missions,  $500. 

Ill  all,  to  his  own  city,  $13,000. 

In  addition  to  these  legacies,  he  bequeathed, — 
To  the  American  Bible  Society,  $67,500. 
To  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  $67,500. 
To  the  American  Board  of  Missions,  $67,500. 
To  the  American  Tract  Society,  $36,000. 
To  the  American  Education  Society,  $33,250. 
To  the  American  Sunday  School  Union,  $33,136. 
For  Christian  Union,  $2,000. 

With  a  residue   yet  to  be  divided  which    may  amount 
to  $75,000. 

In  December,  1826,  the  steadfast  and  worthy  Na- 
thaniel Sill,  who  had  been  a  pillar  from  the  begin- 
ning, having  removed  to  Warren  county,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  dismissed,  no  more  to  take  his  place  with 
Callender  and  Stocking,  at  the  sessions  of  the  elders, 
or  with  Potter  and  Holt,  at  the  deliberations  of  the 
trustees.  Stephen  Franklin,  also,  another  of  the 
founders  of  the  church,  having  gone  to  Pennsylvania, 
was  dismissed,  with  his  good  wife  Sarah. 

The  opening  of  the  canal,  in  1825,  and  the  certain 
prospect  of  enlargement  and  wealth  to  their  growing 
city,  required  of  the  trustees  that  they  should  take 
early  measures  for  erecting  a  larger  and  more  attract- 
ive house  of  worship.  Accordingly,  on  the  12th  of 
June,  1826,  Messrs.  Potter,  Curtiss  and  Stocking 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  superintend  the  build- 
ing of  the  edifice  in  which  wc  now  meet.     Money  was 


54  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

borrowed  of  the  Hartford  Bank,  of  the  Bank  of  Ge- 
neva, of  Hiram  Pratt,  of  Timothy  Cowles,  of  John 
Scott.  Coburn  commenced  the  mason  work  in  June, 
and  finished  it  in  September.  Potter  kept  the  ac- 
counts in  his  own  accurate,  orderly  and  inimitable  way, 
setting  down  three  shillings  for  a  memorandum  book 
for  Brayman,  the  joiner,  and  two  shillings  for  tickets 
for  something  else.  Stocking,  and  Curtiss,  and  Pot- 
ter inspected  the  work  continually,  till,  on  the  3d 
day  of  March,  1827,  the  trustees  reported  to  the  con- 
gregation that  the  house  would  be  ready  for  use  in 
three  weeks,  and  recommended  that  it  should  be  dedi- 
cated to  the  worship  of  God  on  the  28th  instant, 
which  was  done,  Mr,  Eddy,  of  Canandaigua,  preaching 
the  sermon. 

A  few  months  afterward,  Mr.  Crawford,  having  con- 
cluded to  lay  down  his  charge,  began  to  look  for  a 
new  parish.  The  people,  on  their  part,  began  also  to 
look  for  a  new  pastor.  They  requested  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Brown,  of  Cazenovia,  to  visit  and  preach  to  them, 
which  he  was  at  first  inclined  to  do,  but  did  not. 
They  then  employed  a  Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  who  re- 
mained six  weeks,  and  gave  great  satisfaction.  In  Au- 
gust, Mr.  Crawford  was  dismissed,  removing  to  Le 
Roy,  where  he  preached  as  stated  supply  for  more 
than  two  years.  In  1834,  he  supplied  the  first  church 
in  Lockport,  and  afterward  the  church  in  Albion, 
where  he  was  installed,  February  5th,  1835,  but  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health,  was  dismissed  December  1st  of  the 
same  year.  Then  he  removed  to  Milwaukee,  return- 
ing to   Le   Roy  in  1843,  where  he  remained   until   his 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  55 

death,  which  was  on  the  29th  of  June,  1848,  he  bein*'- 
in  the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  During  all  these 
latter  years  of  his  ministry,  Mr.  Crawford  was  most 
diligent  and  untiring  in  his  labors  for  the  good  of  the 
church.  While  at  Le  Roy,  it  was  his  custom  to 
preach  somewhere  almost  every  evening  in  the  week. 
The  people  throughout  Genesee  and  the  adjoining  coun- 
ties crowded  to  their  school  houses  and  churches  to 
hear  him,  and  it  is  estimated  that  more  than  a  thousand 
souls  were  brought  to  the  Saviour  in  connection  with 
these  itinerant  labors. 

In  December,  1828,  the  attention  of  the  still  desti- 
tute church  was  drawn  to  the  Rev.  Sylvester  Eaton, 
who  was  supplying  the  pulpit  of  his  classmate  and 
friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague,  of  Albany.  Mr.  Henry 
R.  Seymour  had  information  concerning  his  worth. 
Mr.  Hiram  Pratt  had  heard  him  preach  in  Albany. 
Dr.  James,  his  classmate,  commended  him  highly. 
The  people  had  good  reason  for  inviting  him  to  spend 
the  remaining  months  of  winter  with  them.  Mr.  Eaton 
came  in  December,  and  in  the  succeeding  February 
received  a  unanimous  call  to  take  charge  of  the  church, 
on  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars. 

As  a  preacher,  he  had  very  few,  if  any,  superiors 
among  those  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  the  min- 
istry. His  sermons  were  able,  polished,  instructive, 
practical,  always  soundly  doctrinal,  calculated  to  im- 
press and  edify  the  people.  Being  delivered  with 
great  earnestness  and  solemnity,  they  were  received 
with  interest  and  profit  by  his  hearers.  In  social  re- 
lations,   and    among    his    brethren    in    the    ministry,    he 


56  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

was  universally  beloved  for  those  generous  and  manly 
traits  which  gave  a  charm  to  his  character.  He  ex- 
celled especially  in  prayer,  whether  in  the  pulpit,  at 
the  sick  bed,  or  at  funerals.  In  labors  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  Christians  and  the  conversion  of  the  impeni- 
tent in  seasons  of  revival,  he  was  equally  eminent  and 
expert.  His  earnestness,  his  sincerity,  his  sympathy, 
the  pungency  of  his  appeals,  the  melody  of  his  voice, 
his  look,  his  action,  everything  combined  to  give  effect 
to  his  ministry  in  periods  and  occasions  like  these. 
Hence  he  was,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  in  great  demand 
among  his  brethren  in  times  of  revival.  Being  in  his 
thirty-seventh  year  when  he  came  to  Buffalo,  he  was 
in  the  very  prime  of  his  robust  manhood.  He  had 
had  a  thorough  education,  first  at  Williams  College, 
and  then  in  the  divinity  school  at  Princeton.  His  fel- 
low students  had  been  men  of  the  first  mould — James, 
and  Sprague,  and  Jonas  King.  He  had  had  charge 
of  the  church  in  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  seven  years — 
was  very  affectionate  in  temper,  and  very  attractive 
in  manner;  was,  in  short,  exactly  suited  to  make,  what 
he  did  in  fact  make,  an  honored,  loved  and  useful 
pastor  to  the  thriving,  united  and  appreciative  church. 
He  was  publicly  installed  the  9th  of  April,  1829.  Dr. 
James,  of  Albany,  preached,  on  every  man's  work  being 
tried  as  by  fire.  His  pastorate  opened  with  the  most 
favorable  auspices.  Willing  to  work  for  his  Master, 
and  finding  much  work  to  be  done,  he  undertook 
more  than  most  men  have  health  or  ability  to  achieve- 
He  preached  twice  on  the  Sabbath,  taught  a  Bible 
class  in    the    Sunday    school    at   noon,  lectured   in   the 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  67 

evening,  lectured  again  on  Thursday  evening,  besides 
visits  and  occasional  meetings  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
town.  Nor  was  his  labor  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  Duriner 
the  five  and  a  half  years  of  his  ministry,  he  received 
to  the  church  three  hundred  and  seventeen  members, 
twenty-six  more  than  had  been  admitted  during  both 
the  previous  pastorates,  which  covered  a  period  of 
nineteen  years.  In  1831,  the  second  of  Mr.  Eaton's 
ministry,  there  were  added  one  hundred  and  fifty-two 
persons,  the  largest  accession  in  any  single  year  since 
the  church  was  founded. 

In  1830,  Mr.  Eaton  and  his  people  began  to  con- 
sider the  religious  wants  of  the  sailors.  The  increasing 
trade  on  the  canal  and  the  lakes  had  multiplied  the 
numbers  of  these,  till  some  provision  was  necessary  for 
their  spiritual  well  being.  A  chapel  was  built,  and  a 
chaplain  employed,  and  much  good  done.  In  1834, 
Rev.  Stephen  Peet,  an  agent  of  the  American  Seaman's 
Friend  Society,  visited  the  city,  and  gave  a  new  im- 
pulse to  the  work.  A  pubMc  meeting  was  held,  a 
Bethel  society  formed,  a  subscription  of  nearly  six 
thousand  dollars  taken,  and  measures  set  on  foot  for 
the  erection  of  a  new  house  of  worship.  Mr.  Bryant 
Burwell  and  Dr.  John  Clark  gave  the  society  a  lot. 
Rev.  Mr.  Peet  took  up  his  residence  here,  the  chapel 
was  built,  at  a  cost  of  eight  thousand  and  eight  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  the  sailors  and  boatmen  of  Buffalo 
heard,  every  Sabbath,  the  good   tidings  of  the  gospel. 

In  November,  1836,  the  financial  crisis  had  come, 
and  the  Bethel  cause  participated  in  the  universal  de- 
cline.    Rev.  Mr.  Nott,  the  chaplain,  was  sent  to  neigh- 


58  •  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

boring  towns  to  obtain  assistance,  but  to  little  purpose, 
and  the  enterprise  would  certainly  have  fallen  into 
utter  wreck,  but  for  the  promptitude,  the  energy  and 
the  self  denial  of  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  congrega- 
tion, 'r'arly  in  March,  1837,  a  meeting  was  held  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Dart,  and  the  Ladies'  Bethel  Friend 
Society  was  organized,  the  same  society  which,  under 
another  name,  and  having  in  charge  another  work, 
exists  in  this  congregation  to-day. 

This  society  having  raised  more  than  five  hundred 
dollars  the  first  year,  assumed  the  support  of  the 
chaplain,  and  the  oversight  of  the  cause,  till,  in  No- 
vember, 1841,  they  opened  a  Sailor's  Home,  which 
passed  into  private  hands  in  1845.  With  a  zeal  that 
never  abated,  an  aptness  that  was  never  at  fault,  an 
energy  that  overcame  all  obstacles,  and  a  perseverance 
that  continued  to  the  end,  these  noble  women  sustained 
the  enterprise  which  they  had  taken  in  hand  for  eight 
successive  years,  having  raised  and  expended  in  money 
alone  more  than  three  thousand  dollars,  to  say  nothing 
of  labor,  and  visitation,  and  care  of  the  sick,  and  the 
equipment,  superintendence  and  repairs  of  the  Home. 

In  January,  1856,  the  chapel  property  being  deeply 
in  debt,  was  sold,  the  liabilities  cancelled,  the  cor- 
poration dissolved,  since  which  time  the  Bethel  cause 
in  this  city  has  been  under  the  care  of  the  American 
Bethel  Society. 

In  the  year  1832,  the  then  very  captivating,  and,  as 
it  would  seem,  very  contagious  idea  of  free  churches, 
had  reached  Buffalo,  and  begun  to  enlist  the  sympathies 
of  some   of  the    people.      The    experiment   had    been 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  59 


commenced  in  New  York,  in  Boston  —  indeed,  in  many 
of  the  Eastern  cities;  they  were  just  moving  in  the 
same  direction  in  Rochester;  it  was  a  very  specious, 
and  very  seductive  project;  what  coukl  be  more  de- 
sirable, what  more  Christian,  than  a  church  open  to 
all,  and  especially  to  all  the  poor,  where  they  could 
hear  the  gospel  without  humiliation,  and  without  charge  ? 
On  the  14th  of  March,  twenty-one  of  the  members  of 
the  church  requested  letters  of  dismission,  with  a  view 
to  the  organization  of  the  Free  Congregational  Church 
in  Buffalo.  The  letters  were  granted,  Mr.  Eaton  was 
asked  to  ofl&ciate,  the  church  was  formed,  and,  on  the 
10th  of  the  ensuing  July,  was  received  under  the  care 
of  the  Presbytery.  The  October  following.  Rev.  Job 
H.  Martyn  was  installed  as  pastor,  who  continued  in 
his  place  a  little  over  two  years,  when  Rev.  George 
R.  RuDD  succeeded  him  as  a  stated  supply.  During 
Mr.  Martyn's  ministry,  large  accessions  were  made  to 
the  new  and  growing  body,  one  hundred  and  fifty  in 
a  single  year,  so  that  whereas  it  commenced  in  '32 
with  twenty-four  members,  it  reported  in  '37  a  cata- 
logue of  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  names.  This 
was  the  first  colony  that  went  out  from  the  mother 
church.  It  was  re-organized  in  1839,  and  received 
into  the  Presbytery,  under  the  name  of  the  Park 
Church.  Rev.  Luther  H.  Angier  became  its  pastor, 
in  1840.  In  1843,  it  reported  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  communicants.  In  1846,  the  present  pastor,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Hbacock,  was  installed,  since  when  it  has 
greatly  prospered,  having  at  present  a  membership  of 
a  little  more  than  three  hundred. 


60  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

Being  instinctively  susceptible  to  every  want  of  his 
flock,  Mr.  Eaton  took  an  early  and  very  deep  interest 
in  the  cause  of  female  education.  There  was  need, 
and  he  and  the  people  felt  it,  of  a  higher  school  for 
girls  than  any  that  the  town  afforded.  A  board  of 
trustees  was  formed,  of  which  Dr.  John  Clark  was 
chairman,  and  Judge  Townsend  and  General  Potter 
members,  and  the  Misses  Denison,  one  of  whom  is 
now  Mrs.  Joseph  Dart,  were  persuaded  to  come  from 
their  home,  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  and  take 
charge  of  the  new  seminary.  The  school  was  filled 
at  once,  its  sessions  being  held,  at  first,  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  church.  The  annual  examinations  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  the  seminary,  and 
many  a  parental  heart  throbbed  with  delight  to  hear  a 
daughter  read  compositions  which  the  critics  of  the 
press  pronounced  to  be  faultless  in  style,  and  full  of 
thought.  The  marriage  of  one  of  the  principals  sus- 
pended at  length  an  enterprise  which,  though  it 
paused  awhile,  could  not  die,  and  the  Buffalo  Female 
Academy  is  the  magnificent  consummation  of  that 
which  was  commenced  at  the  instance  of  the  good 
Mr.  Eaton. 

In  1832,  Dr.  John  E.  Marshall  was  elected  an 
elder,  and  took  his  place  in  the  councils  and  the  cares 
of  the  session. 

In  March,  1834,  the  people  increased  the  salary  of 
the  pastor  two  hundred  dollars,  but  having  received  a 
call  from  the  church  in  Patterson,  New  Jersey,  Mr. 
Eaton  thought  it  expedient  to  remove,  which  he  did, 
preaching   his  farewell   sermon  on  the  14th  of  the  fol- 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  61 

lowing  September :  departing,  as  the  session  said,  in 
their  record  of  the  event,  with  the  good  wishes  and 
prayers  of  his  friends,  that  his  life  and  health  might  be 
preserved,  and  that  he  might  long  be  a  faithful  and 
successful  servant  of  the  Lord. 

Looking  back  over  his  ministry  a  moment,  we  ob- 
serve, that  among  the  three  hundred  and  more  whom 
he  received  to  the  church,  are  the  well  known  names 
of  Samuel  Wilkeson,  and  John  C.  Lord,  and  Willl\m 
RuxTON,  and  Reuben  Heacock,  and  George  Palmer, 
and  Thomas  Farnham,  and  James  Demarest,  and 
Deacon  Crocker.  It  was  during  Mr.  Eaton's  min- 
istry, too,  that  that  welcome  sound,  the  Sabbath  bell, 
went  /orth  for  the  first  time  from  the  tower  of  the 
church. 

Mr.  Eaton  remained  in  Patterson  three  years,  re- 
moved then  to  Poughkeepsie,  where  he  had  charge 
of  a  church  four  years,  when,  his  health  failing,  he 
went  first  to  Patterson,  and  afterward  to  Troy,  where, 
in  the  house  of  his  brother,  on  the  14th  of  May,  18-14, 
being  full  of  the  fruits  of  an  earnest  and  godly  life, 
he  fell  asleep  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
twenty-sixth  of  his  ministry,  leaving  behind  him  a 
memory  the  savor  of  which  remains  undiminished  and 
precious  to  the  present  time. 

The  session  of  this  church,  hearing  of  the  death  of 
Mr.  Eaton,  adopted  a  minute,  in  which  they  expressed 
their  great  sorrow  that  his  labors  had  been  cut  short 
at  a  period  when  there  was  good  hope  that  his  varied 
ministerial  qualifications,  enriched  by  Christian  expe- 
rience,   would    render   him   for   a   long   time   useful    to 


62  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

the  cause  of  Christ ;  and  declared  that  they  cherished, 
with  deepest  emotion,  the  memory  of  that  relation 
which  he  had  formerly  sustained  to  this  people,  calling 
to  mind  with  gratitude  to  the  Master  above,  the  kindly 
admonitions,  the  earnest  appeals,  and  the  fervent 
prayers  which  burst  from  a  heart  overflowing  with  ten- 
derness towards  his  beloved  flock. 

Mrs.  Eaton  and  her  daughter  returned  to  Buffalo, 
where  great  numbers  of  most  affectionate  friends  were 
glad  to  welcome  them,  and  where  they  still  reside, 
loved  and  cherished  as  part  of  the  flock  to  which  he 
once  ministered,  and  a  precious  bond  of  union  between 
the  living  and  the   dead. 

In  1834,  Buffalo,  no  longer  a  village,  had  begun 
to  give  unequivocal  indications  of  coming  prosperity. 
Its  population,  already  swollen  to  twelve  thousand,  was 
increasing  fully  one  thousand  a  year,  intelligence,  and 
wealth,  and  business  were  advancing  in  an  equal  pace, 
and  sagacious  men  were  already  adjusting  their  plans, 
as  they  had  been  obliged  to  arrange  their  hopes,  with 
a  view  to  the  new  order  of  things  which  was  then  so 
certain  to  arrive.  The  cono^reo-ation  of  the  First 
Church  were  not  unmindful  of  these  rising  omens,  as 
they  searched  the  country  for  another  pastor.  In  De- 
cember, they  elected,  with  an  earnest  and  unanimous 
vote,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawes,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut. 
But  Hartford  could  not  surrender  so  needful  and  so 
good  a  man,  and  the  Doctor  declining  the  call,  made 
atonement  for  the  deed  by  informing  the  committee 
that  the  Rev.  Asa  T.  Hopkins,  then  in  New  York, 
was,  in   regard    of   age,    aptitude,    and   ability,  exactly 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  63 


the  man  whom  they  needed.  The  committee  visited 
Mr.  Hopkins,  and  in  the  ensuing  October  he  came  to 
Buffiilo,  and  commenced  his  ministry.  The  month  fol- 
lowing he  was  unanimously  chosen  to  the  pastorate,  on 
a  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars.  He  accepted  the 
call,  and  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  on  the  17th 
of  February,   1836. 

Mr.  Hopkins  was,  at  that  time,  thirty  years  of  age, 
having  been  born  in  the  city  of  Hartford  the  25th  of 
July,  1805;  He  had  been  graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  the  class  of  1826  —  had  studied  divinity  with  Dr. 
WiSNER,  of  Ithaca,  whose  niece  he  married  in  '28  — 
had  preached  with  great  acceptance  in  the  best  con- 
gregations of  New  York,  and  Boston,  and  Hartford  — 
had  been  called  to  succeed  the  eminent  Dr.  Chester, 
of  Albany,  in  the  church  of  which  Dr.  Sprague  is  now 
the  pastor — had  been  settled  twice,  first  at  Pawtucket, 
in  Massachusetts,  and  afterward  in  Utica,  in  this  State, 
—  and  had  already  reached  the  first  rank  of  power 
and  promise  among  the  men  of  his  own  age,  in  the 
ministry.  A  scion  of  an  old  and  honored  family,  the 
son  of  devout  and  worthy  parents,  accustomed  from 
infancy  to  the  refinements  of  cultured  and  graceful 
life,  full  of  all  noblest  impulses,  genial,  affectionate, 
and  frank,  a  gentleman  by  nature,  and  having  no 
power,  if  he  had  had  the  will,  to  be  otherwise,  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  people  heard  with  delight  his 
decision  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  the  care  of  their 
souls.  Dr.  Hopkins  impressed  himself  too  deeply  upon 
the  heart  of  this  community,  and  is  altogether  too  well 
remembered   now,  to  need   an    elaborate  description  or 


64  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO.  • 

a  merited  eulogy  from  me.  His  dignified  manners, 
his  courteous  temper,  his  high  enthusiasm,  the  beauty 
and  the  boldness  of  some  of  his  addresses  to  men,  the 
meekness,  .the  fervor,  the  importunity  of  his  appeals  to 
God  —  his  eloquence,  his  aptness,  his  susceptibility; 
the  force  and  freedom  with  which  he  entered  into  all 
great  popular  questions  and  causes  —  the  broad  and 
generous  sympathy  by  which  he  identified  himself  with 
his  people,  with  the  young  men,  with  the  city  in 
which  he  was  spending  his  powers — these,  and  other 
like  qualities,  are  too  indelibly  wrought  into  the  mem- 
ory of  thousands,  to  require  more  than  the  barest  men- 
tion in  a  discourse  like  this. 

During  a  ministry  of  twelve  years,  Dr.  Hopkins  had 
much  to  assist  and  comfort  him,  on  the  one  hand, 
while  on  the  other  he  was  called  to  encounter  a  series 
of  trials  which  more  than  any  others,  perhaps,  are 
wont  to  determine  the  stuff  of  which  a  pastor  is  made; 
the  strength  of  his  faith,  the  power  of  his  patience, 
the  depth  and  vigor  of  his  love.  First  came  the  ter- 
rible revulsion  in  business,  which  made  the  years  '36 
and  '37  years  of  overthrow,  and  confusion,  and  loss. 
The  new  disclosures  in  regard  to  character,  the  sudden 
destruction  of  fortune  and  hope  on  the  part  of  hun- 
dreds, the  universal  collapse,  the  wide  spread  discour- 
agement, the  utter  engrossment  of  the  people  in  their 
present  necessities,  the  decline  of  customary  revenues, 
the  failure  of  confident  subscriptions  —  how  much  must 
a  sensitive  and  sympathizing  pastor  have  endured,  in 
passing  through  such  an  ordeal  as  was  here  in  1837. 
Perhaps  no  more  impressive  instance  of  the  utter  pros- 


I 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  65 


tration  that  came  upon  men  of  fortune  in  the  reverse 
of  '37,  can  be  given,  than  in  the  well  remembered 
failure  of  nearly  all  the  great  subscriptions  to  the 
University  of  Western  New  York.  These  subscriptions, 
amounting  to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  one  hun- 
di^ed  and  forty  thousand  of  which  was  from  men  con- 
nected with  this  church,  had  been  procured  from  re- 
sponsible persons,  in  the  year  1835.  The  University 
was  chartered  in  the  spring  of  '36,  but  the  founders 
were  utterly  unable  to  fulfill  their  engagements,  and 
the  project  ended  in  a  bitter  remembrance  and  an 
abortive  life.      Such  was  Buffalo  in  1836. 

It  is  part  of  the  history  of  this  church,  honorable  alike 
to  the  pastor  and  the  people,  that  with  all  his  neces- 
sities and  all  their  disasters,  neither  did  they  offer,  nor 
he  withhold,  a  single  proposition,  hint  or  overture  that 
was  not,  in  the  highest  sense,  manly  and  Christian. 
Moved  by  the  noblest  impulses,  and  while  in  need  of 
every  cent  of  his  salary,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
trustees  offering  to  remit  to  them  one-fourth  of  his 
annual  revenue.  Moved  by  the  same  noble  impulses, 
the  trustees  answered,  that  whatever  their  distresses, 
the  full  salary  should  be  paid.  All  the  negotiations 
of  that  most  trying  period  attest  that  the  people  had 
a  pastor  who  was  worthy  of  them,  and  that  the  pastor 
had  a  people  among  whom  it  was  cjisy  to  be  self- 
denying,  and  safe  to  be  noble. 

Perhaps  a  severer  trial,  however,  came  in  another 
form.  The  city  had  enlarged,  and  there  was  demand, 
as  there  was  disposition,  to  increase  the  number  of 
churches.      Accordingly,  in   July,   1838,  the  pastor  was 


66  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

called  to  sign  letters  of  recommendation,  dismissing  a 
number  of  his  flock  to  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
about  to  be  established  here.  Less  than  a  year  from 
that  time,  twenty  more  asked  leave  to  withdraw,  that 
they  might  unite  in  building  up  the  Park  Church.  In 
March  of  '47,  nearly  fifty  of  the  flock  took  letters  to 
the  North  Church,  just  then  to  be  founded.  Others 
had  removed  to  the  Pearl  Street  Church,  which  com- 
menced its  existence  in  '35,  was  received  into  the 
Presbytery  in  '36,  had  one  hundred  and  seventy  mem- 
bers in  '37,  and  in  '46  a  few  more  than  four  hundred. 
Now,  whether  it  be  due  to  the  weakness  of  human 
nature,  or  the  strength  of  a  pastor's  love,  or  some 
other  cause  more  or  less  commendable,  experience  has 
demonstrated,  that  one  of  the  severest  of  a  minister's 
trials  is  found  in  the  necessity  of  releasing  honored 
and  useful  parishioners  to  other  and  neighboring 
churches.  A  pastor  may  discern  the  obvious  propri- 
ety, nay,  he  may  discover  the  absolute  necessity  of 
the  new  project.  His  judgment  may  approve,  his 
conscience  concur,  but  he  is  a  man  to  be  honored, 
nay,  he  is  a  man  to  be  applauded,  who,  in  such  cir- 
cumstances, yields  a  prompt  assent,  and  sees  his  own 
flock  diminished,  that  others  may  be  enlarged.  Many 
an  eminent  preacher,  in  many  a  city  in  this  and  other 
lands,  has  found  it  difficult  to  be  unselfish  in  such 
conditions.  But  while  any  memory  of  Asa  T.  Hop- 
kins shall  remain  in  any  of  these  churches,  it  will  be 
kept  in  mind,  as  part  of  the  native  nobleness  of  the 
man,  nay,  part  of  the  grace  that  enlivened  and  molded 
his  nature,  that  instead   of  being  reluctant,  and   unwil- 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  67 


ling,  and  slow,  he  entered  heartily  into  every  movement 
to  spread  his  Master's  kingdom,  and  even  led  the  way  in 
planting  and  peopling  the  new  churches  around  him. 

Superior  as  he  was  to  such  trials,  he  had  even 
another,  which  quite  too  often  abates  the  courage  and 
exhausts  the  energy  of  a  zealous  and  faithful  pastor. 
I  refer  to  his  ever  returning  ill  health,  and  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  frequent  absence  or  relaxation,  to  recover 
his  enfeebled  powers.  But  who  does  not  remember, 
and  that  with  a  kind  of  surprise,  as  if  it  were  still  a 
mystery,  how  with  all  the  disadvantages  of  an  unsound 
body,  and  an  oppressed  and  anxious  brain,  he  was 
still  at  his  post,  and  still  at  work,  his  mind  throwing 
forth  its  rich  and  brilliant  contents,  with,  if  I  may  use 
his  own  splendid  figure,  volcanic  masis  and  energy. 

Commencing  his  ministry  in  a  city  which  was  full  of 
young  men  who  were  here  rather  as  sojourners  than 
residents.  Dr.  Hopkins  entered  at  once  into  all  their 
sympathies,  and  prepared  and  preached  a  series  of 
well  adapted  lectures,  addressed  especially  to  that  class 
of  his  hearers.  In  one  of  these  he  earnestly  recom- 
mended the  organization  of  a  Young  Men's  Association. 
His  hearers  approved  the  suggestion  —  called  a  meet- 
ing—  and  the  Young  Men's  Association  —  that  noble 
institution  which  has  done  so  much  for  the  intellectual 
improvement  of  our  city  —  was  then  organized.  He 
preached  also  a  series  of  sermons,  demanded  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  times,  upon  the  trinity  of  the 
Godhead,  and  the  divinity  of  Him  on  whoin  all  saints 
of  all  nations  and  ages  do  continually  depend ;  and 
who    is    worshiped   as    divine    in    the    two    sanctuaries 


68  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

where  God  alone  receives  the  homage  of  man — m  the 
church  above,  and  the  church  on  earth. 

During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  there  were  re- 
ceived to  the  fellowship  of  the  church  five  hundred 
and  fifty-four  persons,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  were  added  in  a  single  year.  Meantime  the 
population  of  the  city  had  advanced  from  thirteen  to 
thirty-five  thousand,  and  all  the  interests,  and  all  the 
resources  of  the  congregation,  had  improved  to  an 
equal  extent.  The  Sabbath  School,  under  the  efficient 
care,  first  of  Rev.  Elias  R.  Beadle,  and  afterward  of 
Rev.  P.  G.  Cook,  had  increased  from  an  average  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  pupils  to  nearly  three  hundred. 
Mr.  Cook,  who  took  charge  of  the  school  in  '36,  re- 
ported in  '46,  that, of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
who  joined  the  church  in  '43,  between  fifty  and  sixty 
had  come  from  the  Sabbath  School,  being  at  the  time, 
or  having  been  recently,  members  of  some  of  the 
classes.  He  added  that  at  least  a  hundred  of  the 
scholars  had  joined  the  church  since  '36.  A  single 
teacher,  it  was  believed,  had  been  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  nearly  twenty  of  her  pupils.  In  the  ten 
years  between  '36  and  '46,  there  had  been  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  different  children  in  the  school. 

The  cause  of  Christian  benevolence,  fostered  .as  it 
was  by  the  fervid  affection  and  powerful  advocacy  of 
the  pastor,  kept  pace  with  the  growing  demands  of 
the  age,  and  the  increased  abilities  of  the  people.  In 
1838,  the  aggregate  of  collections  and  gifts  was  $3000; 
in  '39,  a  little  less;  in  '44,  it  was  $4264.94;  in  '47, 
$3081.74.     The  number  of  communicants  in  the  church 


; 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  01) 

when  Dr.  Hopkins  assumed  the  care  of  it,  was  three 
hundred  and  sixty-one.  When  his  ministry  ceased,  it 
was  three  hundred  and  seventy-two.  Thus,  in  less 
than  twelve  years,  five  hundred  and  fifty-four  had  en- 
tered, and  five  hundred  and  forty- three  left  the  churcli. 
This  was  an  average  of  about  forty-six  as  the  annual 
gain,  and  nearly  the  same  number  as  the  yearly  loss 
of  communicants.  Looking  over  the  records  of  ad- 
mission during  Dr.  Hopkins'  pastorate,  the  eye  falls  on 
many  familiar  names,  among  whom  are  those  of  Cyrus 
De  Forest,  Jonathan  Mayhew,  Sidney  Shepard,  Phi- 
Los  Cook,  Noah  Gardner,  Thomas  Blossom,  Isaac 
White,  Merwin  Hawley,  George  Walbridge,  Nathan- 
iel WiLGUs,  Charles  and  George  Coit,  Gaius  Rich, 
William  F.  Miller,  Morris  Butler,  Philander  Ben- 
net,  Orsamus  H.  Marshall,  Andrew  Rich,  Jacob  Sie- 
BOLD,  Theodotus  Burwell,  Albert  Merrill,  James 
Sawyer,  Loring  Danforth,  Nelson  Randall,  Horace 
Stillman,  Stephen  Austin,  Chauncey  Cowles,  Jesse 
Ketchum,  Albert  Bigelow,  Bryant  Burwell,  Peter 
Curtiss,  and  William  Delos  Love.  Silas  Kingsley 
and  Aaron  Rumsey  joined  the  church  in  December, 
1834.  Deacon  Crocker  had  just  been  made  an  elder, 
when  Dr.  Hopkins  came.  In  November,  1841,  the 
church  elected  Messrs.  De  Forest,  Farnham,  Shepard 
and  Burwell  to  the  ofiice  of  elders,  and  Benjamin 
Hodge,  and  Jonathan  Mayhew,  and  Elias  Lewis,  and 
Henry  Bissel,  deacons.  In  April,  '46,  Mr.  Kingsley 
and  Mr.  Gardner  were  added  to  the  bench  of  elders, 
and  Messrs.  Sawyer,  Merrill  and  Taylor  to  the  num- 
ber of  deacons. 


70  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

In  December,  1838,  the  session  put  upon  their 
records  that,  having  learned  with  deep  regret  the 
death  of  Dr.  John  E.  Marshall,  they  were  deeply 
afHicted  by  the  loss  of  their  revered  and  beloved  asso- 
ciate. Two  years  after,  in  '41,  Mr.  Callender  having 
removed  to  Black  Rock,  took  a  letter  to  the  church 
in  that  place — ^  having  served  the  congregation  with 
zeal,  and  judgment,  and  great  fidelity,  for  more  than 
thirty  years. 

In  September,  1839,  Dr.  Hopkins,  oppressed  with 
long  continued  ill  health,  proposed  to  the  congregation 
to  relinquish  his  charge,  whereupon,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Hiram  Pratt,  he  was  granted  leave  of  absence  for  six 
months.  In  the  spring  of  '46,  he  was  advised  to  go 
abroad,  for  his  own  sake  and  that  of  Mrs.  Hopkins,  to 
which  he  consented,  and  having  visited  Scotland  and 
the  continent,  and  attended  the  evangelical  alliance  in 
the  city  of  London,  he  returned  in  November,  bringing 
the  lifeless  body  of  his  wife,  who  had  died  on  the 
return  voyage,  and  whose  funeral  was  attended  with 
universal  grief  and  sympathy,  in  this  house,  on  the 
27th  of  November,  1846. 

The  bereaved  pastor  resumed  his  customary  labors, 
and  continued  them  with  great  earnestness  and  fidelity, 
until  Sunday,  the  7th  of  November,  1847,  when  he 
delivered  his  last  sermons,  and  went  home  to  die,  and 
depart  to  his  waiting  reward.  Three  weeks  after,  on 
the  morning  of  Saturday,  the  27th  day  of  the  month, 
and  just  a  year  from  the  burial  of  his  wife,  he  breathed 
his  last,  being  in  the  forty-third  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  eighteenth  of  his  ministry.     With  equal  justice  and 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  71 

feeling,  the  elders  recorded,  at  their  next  session,  their 
appreciation  of  their  associate,  and  their  sense  oi"  lii- 
loss.  They  said :  We  mourn  the  departure  of  a 
personal  friend,  of  a  moderator  of  uncommon  ability, 
undoubted  piety,  and  zeal  for  the  cause  of  truth  — 
whose  manners  were  marked  by  a  cordial  freedom, 
mingled  with  firm  adherence  to  principle,  a  frankness 
and  directness  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions,  tem- 
pered by  the  greatest  personal  kindness,  and  an  ear- 
nestness in  the  great  work  of  advancing  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom,  which  will  ever  bring  to  our  minds  delightful 
memories  of  our  intercourse  with  him.  They  added, 
that  in  common  with  the  church  and  congregation, 
they  had  been  called  to  part  with  a  preacher  of  rare 
and  brilliant  talents,  who  deeply  felt  the  force  of  the 
truths  he  inculcated,  and  who  was  anxious  mainly  that 
the  flock  he  fed  should  feel  it  too — while  in  his  public 
addresses  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  in  their  behalf,  he 
manifested  a  humility  strongly  in  contrast  with  the 
boldness  and  power  with  which  he  exhibited  divine 
truth  to  the  understandings  of  the  people  of  his  charge. 

Dr.  Hopkins'  funeral  was  attended  by  a  great  con- 
course of  people.  The  church  was  draped,  the  choir 
sang  pieces  prepared  expressly  for  the  occasion,  and 
eight  clergymen  bore  their  brother  to  the  grave. 

The  city  had  now  increased  to  more  than  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  had  laid  out  the  magnificent 
ground  plat  on  which  Time  is  destined  to  erect  its 
coming  fortunes.  Its  paved  streets,  its  princely  dwel- 
lings, its  shaded  avenues,  with  its  steamers  and  fleets 
on    the    lake,    and    its   boats   linked    and    laden,    and 


72  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

stretching  in  a  continuous  chain  to  the  far  off  Hudson, 
—  these,  and  other  unequivocal  tokens,  opened  to  the 
people  a  hopeful  future.  To  keep  pace  with  the  rapid 
march  of  other  things,  the  trustees  determined  to  en- 
close and  adorn  the  church  grounds,  and  in  due  time 
to  erect  a  new  and  costly  house  of  worship.  Measures 
were  therefore  set  on  foot  looking  to  these  results. 
In  March,  1847,  Messrs.  Haddock,  Spaulding,  Kingsley 
and  Potter  were  charged  with  the  preparation  of  the 
ground  and  the  planting  of  shade  trees  upon  the  so- 
ciety's lot,  a  task  which  they  promptly  performed ; 
and  Potter  reported,  at  the  next  annual  meeting,  that 
they  had  procured  the  setting  of  eighty  trees,  and 
expended,  in  ornament  and  repairs,  six  hundred  dollars. 
In  April,  '48,  the  congregation  unanimously  invited 
Dr.  George  Shepherd,  of  Bangor  Theological  Seminary, 
to  take  charge  of  them  in  the  gospel  ministry.  This 
celebrated  clergyman  —  whom  Maine  was  determined 
to  keep,  though  churches,  and  cities,  and  institutions 
in  other  States  were  striving  to  draw  him  away  — 
staid  by  the  seminary,  which  needed  his  labors,  and 
the  congregation,  disappointed  in  their  hopes,  began 
to  look  in  other  directions.  Happily  there  was  just 
then  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  a  man,  so  well  qual- 
ified to  command  and  retain  and  satisfy  the  suffrages 
of  any  people,  that  the  committee  could  at  once 
recommend,  and  the  congregation  unanimously  elect 
the  Rev.  M.  L.  R.  P.  Thompson  to  take  possession  of 
the  vacant  pulpit.  Dr.  Thompson  accepted  the  call, 
and  was  installed  on  the  1st  day  of  November,  1848. 
With  what  zeal,  and  power,  and  acceptance  he  fulfilled 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  73 


a  pastorate  of  nearly  twelve  years  among  you,  it  would 
be  utterly  superfluous  here  to  recount.  Ilis  uuflaf^gino- 
industry,  his  intense  energy,  his  devotion  to  his  single 
and  special  work,  his  earnestness,  his  directness,  the 
penetration,  the  point,  the  clearness  of  his  ideas  — 
these,  with  his  remarkable  power  of  personal  attraction, 
are  all  too  fresh  in  the  memories  of  the  present  mo- 
ment to  require  any  other  or  larger  notice  than  tliis. 
Dr.  Thompson's  ministry  continued,  as  I  have  said, 
nearly  twelve  years.  In  that  time  he  admitted  to  the 
church  three .  hundred  and  eighty-four  members,  of 
which  number  seventy-five  were  received  in  1849,  and 
eighty-two  in  1858.  In  1852,  Mr.  Shumway  moving 
the  project,  a  committee  of  the  congregation,  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Austin,  Farnham,  Pratt,  Burroughs,  and 
Ganson,  were  appointed,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
subject  of  building  a  new  church.  In  January,  1854, 
the  matter  had  been  advanced  so  far,  that  on  the  21st 
of  that  month,  the  trustees  made  record  of  the  fact, 
that  a  subscription  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
was  already  filled,  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  board. 
Plans  were  procured,  and  preparations  made,  and  in 
the  ensuing  April,  the  committee  having  arranged  all 
the  preliminaries,  advertised  for  overtures  and  bids 
from  the  builders.  It  was  soon  discovered,  however, 
that  no  responsible  architect  would  undertake  to  erect 
an  edifice  of  the  style  and  material  set  forth  in  the 
plan  which  the  trustees  had  been  induced  to  acce])t, 
for  the  sum,  or  anything  near  to  the  sum,  whicli  liad 
been  inconsiderately  named  in  reports  and  estimates. 
The  church  which  they  were  advised   to  build    on    the 


74  THE  FIRST  CHUBCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

ground  was  said  to  be  very  cheap.  The  church  which 
was  showed  them  on  paper  proved  to  be  very  dear. 
Disappointed  in  their  estimates,  disappointed  even  more 
by  the  reverses  that  had  come  to  business,  the  trustees 
restored  to  the  subscribers  their  notes,  and  abandoned 
the  favorite  project  of  building.  Another  effort,  of 
the  same  character,  and  with  the  same  result,  followed, 
when  the  congregation,  made  wise  by  disasters,  and 
contented  by  wisdom,  judiciously  resolved  to  remain 
in  an  edifice  which  was  spacious  and  substantial,  and 
adequate  to  all  their  real  wa;its. 

Dr.  Thompson  early  interested  himself  in  the  cause 
of  education,  with  what  success,  our  noble  Female 
Academy  stands  a  monument  and  a  witness  to-day. 
During  his  ministry,  Mr.  Rumsey  and  Mr.  Danforth 
were  added  to  the  bench  of  elders,  and  Messrs.  White 
and  Barnes  to  the  deacons,  they  having  been  severally 
elected  on  the  29th  of  December,  1853. 

In  September,  1854,  Jesse  Ketchum  and  ten  others 
were  dismissed,  to  unite  with  others  in  forming  the 
Westminster  Church.  The  aggregate  of  collections  for 
benevolent  objects,  during  the  eleven  and  a  half  years 
of  Dr.  Thompson's  pastorate,  was  over  thirty  thousand 
dollars — being  an  average  of  about  three  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  The  health  of  Mrs.  Thompson  requiring 
a  change  of  residence,  he  was  dismissed  in  April,  1860, 
when  the  session  adopted  the  following  minute: — 

The  circumstances  under  which  we  are  now  con- 
vened, forcibly  remind  us  of  the  loss  we  have  sus- 
tained, in  the  removal  of  our  late  presiding  ofl&cer. 
We   had    already,  in  common  with  the  congregation  of 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  75 


which  we  are  members,  painfully  realized  the  loss  of 
his  accustomed  ministrations  in  the  desk.  But  this 
occasion,  our  present  condition,  the  vacant  chair  which 
he  had  for  more  than  eleven  years  filled  with  such 
impartiality,  dignity,  and  Christian  courtesy,  bring 
home  to  our  hearts  and  sympathies,  more  fully  than 
we  can  express,  the  value  of  what  we  have  possessed, 
and  the  loss  we  have  sustained.  We  shall  ever  cherish 
with  pleasure  the  memory  of  his  official  intercourse 
with  us,  as  a  session,  as  well  with  us  severally,  as 
individuals.  Though  no  longer  officially  connected 
with  us,  the  bonds  of  our  common  friendship  are  not 
severed;  he  has  still  a  home  and  remembrance  in  our 
hearts ;  he  carries  with  him  to  his  new  field  of  labor, 
our  earnest  sympathy ;  and  our  ardent  desire  and 
prayer  is,  that  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  may 
make  him,  to  those  to  whom  he  may  hereafter  min- 
ister, what  he  has  been  to  hs  —  a  ])lessing  and  a  bond 
of  union. 

In  the  same  spirit,  the  trustees  adopted  the  following 
resolutions : — 

Resolved,  That  we  deeply  regret  the  afflictive  dis- 
pensation of  Providence  that  has  occasioned  the  request 
of  our  beloved  pastor  for  the  severance  of  a  relation 
which  has  happily  existed  between  him  and  us  for 
more  than  eleven  years  past,  and  we  sincerely  sym})a- 
thize  with  him  and  his  family  in  that  affliction. 

Resolved,  That  his  eminent  ability  and  fidelity  as  a 
preacher  and  pastor,  during  the  period  of  his  charge, 
has  commanded  our  highest  respect;  and  the  kindness 
and   sympathy  manifested   by  him,  in  cases  of  sickness 


76  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

and  bereavement  in  the  congregation,  have  secured 
our  affectionate  regard. 

Resolved^  That  the  circumstances  which  have  occa- 
sioned his  resignation  of  the  pastoral  office  over  this 
congregation,  forbid  our  non-concurrence  in  the  appli- 
cation to  the  Presbytery:  yet  we  concur  with  regret, 
and  earnestly  desire  that  the  object  of  such  resignation 
may  be  obtained,  in  the  improved  health  of  his  family. 

Resolved^  That  in  whatever  field  he  may  hereafter 
labor  in  the  ministry,  he  will  carry  with  him  our 
sympathy  and  prayers  for  his  official  success,  and  the 
personal  happiness  of  himself  and  family. 

After  a  vacancy  of  seven  months,  that  is  in  No- 
vember 1860,  the  congregation  called  the  Rev.  Dwight 
Bartlett  to  take  charge  of  them  in  the  Lord.  Mr. 
Bartlett  declined,  and  the  present  pastor  was  installed 
on  the  4th  of  April,   1861. 

Reviewing  these  fifty  years,  with  a  view  to  some 
general  results,  it  appears  that  there  have  been  added 
to  the  church  in  all,  of  males,  five  hundred  and  forty- 
eight,  of  females,  eleven  hundred  and  four  —  making 
an  annual  average  of  thirty-three ;  and  a  total  of  ad- 
missions in  half  a  century,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  fifty-two.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two 
joined  on  profession  of  their  fiiith,  and  eight  hundred 
and  ninety  by  certificate.  There  have  left  the  church 
in  that  time,  to  join  other  churches  on  earth,  or  to  go 
home  to  the  Church  on  high,  eleven  hundred  and 
eighty-five — being  an  average  of  twenty-four  per  year. 
If  we  adopt  the  same  ratio,  and  make  the  annual  av- 
erage of   the  congregation  four   hundred,  twenty  thou- 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  77 


sand  persons  have  been,  at  one  time  and  another, 
connected  with  the  ordinances  and  the  worship  of  this 
church.  In  other  words,  this  churc-li,  Avliicli  fifty  years 
ago,  began  to  show  men  the  way  to  heaven,  has  gone 
before  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  souls,  lighting  their 
path,  and  saying.  Come  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee 
good. 

The  cost  to  the  society  for  salaries,  repairs,  expenses 
of  building,  interest,  etc..  has  amounted,  in  fifty  years, 
to  something  like  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

The  contributions  to  benevolent  objects  have  ex- 
ceeded one  hundi'ed  thousand  dollars. 

The  congregation  has  been  greatly  assisted  in  its 
devotions  by  the  untiring  efforts  of  those  who  have 
successively  conducted  the  music — Mr.  Callendek,  Mr. 
Hamlin,  Mr.  Ketchum,  Mr.  Taunt,  Mr.  Bigelow,  and 
our  present  leader,  Mr.  Vining,  who,  for  the  last  twelve 
years,  has  held  and  honored  his  resi)()nsible  position. 
Xor  will  it  be  soon  forgotten  how  General  Storks 
plaj^ed  upon  the  viol  for  twenty-five  years,  Mr.  Young 
attendino-  him;  nor  how  Mr.  Bigelow,  Mr.  Sears  and 
Mr.  Butler  discoursed  on  their  melodious  and  beau- 
tiful flutes. 

The  sextons,  too  —  Mr.  Pierce,  Mr.  Hotchkiss,  and 
Mr.  Newland  —  have  added  much  to  the  comfort  of 
the  people,  and  much  to  the  prosperity  of  the  church. 

I  should  omit  a  very  important  item  in  the  histor>' 
of  this  church,  if  I  failed  to  mention  the  names  of  a 
somewhat  numerous  list  of  young  men,  who,  with  oi- 
without  assistance,  have   gone  from  membership  in  tins 


78  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

congregation  into  the  Christian  ministry.  In  1818,  the 
Presbytery  of  Buffalo  undertook  to  aid  indigent  young 
men  belonging  to  its  feeble  churches,  in  pursuing  an 
education  with  a  view  to  the  ministry.  The  extent  of 
the  assistance  it  could  offer  will  be  appreciated  on  dis- 
covering that,  in  September,  1821,  eight  churches  con- 
nected with  the  Presbytery  contributed  in  all  $32.20, 
of  which  sum  the  church  in  Buffalo  furnished  $24.00. 
In  1823,  James  Remington,  of  this  church,  commenced 
his  studies  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery.  Six 
months  after,  his  brother  David,  also  a  member  of  this 
church,  entered  upon  his  studies.  The  same  year  Jabez 
Hyde  was  licensed  to  preach -the  gospel.  Besides  these, 
Joseph  Donald,  Henry  Hoisington,  John  C.  Lord, 
Joseph  M.  Gambell,  Philos  G.  Cook,  Albert  Bigelow, 
John  Coit,  Joshua  Cook,  Grosvenor  Heacock,  Her- 
RiCK  Johnson,  and  Charles  L.  Hequemburg  have  en- 
tered the  ministry.  Mr.  Hyde  had  charge  of  a  church 
in  Chautauque  county.  Mr.  Hoisington  was  missionary 
to  Ceylon,  then  pastor  in  Williamstown,  afterward  in 
Essex,  Connecticut,  where  he  died  a  little  time  since. 
The  history  of  the  others,  especially  of  Dr.  Lord,  Dr. 
Heacock,  Mr.  Coit,  Mr.  Bigelow,  Mr.  Cook,  and  Mr. 
Johnson,  is  too  In.miliar  to  need  mention. 

In  the  protracted  investigation  which  I  have  been 
obliged  to  make,  to  obtain  the  history  to  which  you 
have  so  patiently  listened,  I  have  not  failed  to  find 
evidence  of  human  ft'ailty  in  the  conduct  of  individual 
members  of  the  church,  and  I  may  add,  perhaps,  in 
current  opinions  and  usages,  and  modes  of  advancing 
the  cause  of   the   Redeemer.      But  I  have  not  thought 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  79 


it  necessary  to  exhume  buried  infirmities,  oi-  o-ive  a 
secojLcl  life  to  faults  that  have  had  their  day  already. 
Let  the  pall  of  forgetfulness  cover  all  the  frailties 
which  the  past  has  witnessed,  and  let  us  be  eager  to 
preserve  and  embalm  only  the  virtues  of  the  lionored 
and  the  dead. 

Reflecting  upon  this  history  of  half  a  century,  the 
first  thing  that  strikes  the  mind  is  the  amazing  con- 
trasts of  the  present  and  the  past. 

Fifty  years  ago,  there  were  five  hundred  people  in 
Buffalo.  To-day,  there  are  nearly  one  hundred  thou- 
sand. 

Fifty  years  ago,  there  were  five  day  schools  in  the 
town,  with  less  than  a  hundred  pupils.  To-day,  there 
are  thirty-three  public  schools,  in  charge  of  nearly  two 
hundred  teachers,  with  an  attendance  of  nearly  thirteen 
thousand  children,  and  at  an  annual  cost  of  about  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  school  property  in 
Buffalo  is  valued  at  a  little  less  than  tlircc^  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

Fifty  years  ago,  there  was  one  church  in  the  village, 
with  a  membership  of  twenty-nine,  and  a  congregation 
of  less  than  a  hundred.  To-day,  there  are  forty-two 
Protestant  and  thirteen  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  the 
city.  Of  the  former,  seven  are  Presbyterian,  eight 
Methodist,  eight  Episcopal,  three  Baptist,  one  Bethel, 
and  eleven  German. 

Fifty  years  ago,  there  was  one  Sabbath  School,  with 
one  teacher,  and  eight  or  ten  pupils.  Now,  there  are  in 
the  Presbyterian  churches  alone,  thirteen  schools,  with 
three  hundred  teachers,  and  nearly  two  thousand  pupils. 


80  THE   FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 

Fifty  years  ago,  there  were  four  or  five  vessels  on 
the  lake,  whose  value  might  have  been  ten  thousand 
dollars.  There  are  now  fourteen  hundred  vessels,  with 
a  tonnage  of  six  millions,  employing  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  thousand  seamen,  and  valued  at  thii'teen  and 
a  half  millions  of  dollars.  Besides  these,  there  are 
more  than  three  thousand  boats  on  the  canal,  having  a 
tonnage  of  more  than  five  hundred  thousand,  and  an 
estimated  value  of  three  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

Fifty  years  ago,  not  a  bushel  of  grain,  of  any  kind, 
was  brought  into  Buffalo.  This  year,  there  have  been 
landed  at  your  docks,  twenty-six  and  a  half  millions  of 
bushels  of  wheat,  twenty-one  of  corn,  and  nearly  two 
and  a  half  of  other  grains. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  value  of  our  exports  was  noth- 
ing.     This  year,  it  is  $57,834,888. 

Sixty  years  ago,  the  assessors'  roll  put  down  the 
taxable  property  of  the  village  at  $2,229.  The  as- 
sessed value  of  real  estate  in  Buffalo,  this  year,  is 
nearly  forty-two  millions  of  dollars. 

At  the  center  of  all  this  activity,  and  in  the  heart 
of  all  this  growth,  is  the  religion  of  Christ  embodied 
in  these  churches,  and  kept  alive  from  generation  to 
generation,  by  the  labors  and  the  prayers  of  the  faithful. 

Looking  again  upon  the  history  of  these  fifty  bygone 
years,  we  cannot  but  remark  upon  the  assistance  ren- 
dered to  the  church  and  to  the  city,  by  the  churches 
in  the  East.  More  than  half  of  those  who  have  sus- 
tained and  carried  forward  this  society  have  come  to 
us  from  beyond  the  Hudson.  Those  eastern  churches 
in    Connecticut,  in    Massachusetts,  in    Rhode    Island,  in 


HALF  CENTURY  DISCOURSE.  81 


Vermont,  are  not  living  in  \-aiii.  They  are  Clirist's 
schools,  where  young  men  are  trained  for  usefulness 
and  power  in  distant  and  destitute  fields.  May  God 
prosper  them,  and  make  them  nurseries  of  a  sanctified 
manhood,  for  many  generations  to  come. 

Reflecting  still  upon  the  history  of  these  fifty  years, 
how  clear  it  is,  that  the  churches  in  this  city  are  doing 
a  constant  and  mighty  work  in  States  and  cities  further 
west.  In  fifty  years,  this  church  has  sent  out  as  many 
as  six  hundred  men  and  women  to  assist  in  founding 
or  building  up  young  churches  and  cities  in  the  West. 
Of  how  much  consequence  to  a  people  in  such  circum- 
stances, is  a  high  standard  of  integrity,  a  standard  and 
a  style  of  culture  that  shall  furnish  able,  consistent  and 
holy  men  — men  who  shall  be  to  the  cities  where  they 
reside  what  Callender,  and  Bryant,  and  Seymour,  and 
Stocking,  were  to  us. 

Nor  can  we  conclude  our  survey  of  the  histoiy  of 
these  fifty  years,  without  remarking  upon  the  character 
and  power  of  that  religion  which  has  had  a  place  in 
this  church  from  the  beginning.  The  religion  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  religion  of  Calvinism  and  the 
Covenant  has  often  encountered  the  reproach  of  those 
who  can  see  no  divinity  in  Christ,  and  no  depravity 
in  man.  You  have  lately  been  told  that  it  was  found 
necessary,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  to  set  up  even 
in  this  city  a  standing  protest  against  the  doctrines 
and  inhumanities  of  Calvinism.  But  Calvinism,  as 
taught  and  illustrated  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  has 
had  an  experiment  of  fifty  years  in  this  community. 
It  began  its  work    when  there  were  none  to  compete, 


I 


82 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  BUFFALO. 


and  none  to  complain.  It  planted  a  churcli.  It  pub- 
lished the  gospel.  It  fostered  learning.  It  cherished 
virtue.  It  inspired  manliness.  It  instigated  thrift. 
Gathering  around  itself  in  these  fifty  years  twenty 
thousand  souls,  men,  and  mothers,  and  children,  it  has 
guided,  and  admonished,  and  helped  these,  while  it 
has  adorned  sixteen  hundred  of  its  own  disciples  with 
the  virtues  of  a  regenerate  and  holy  life.  In  doing 
this,  it  has  accomplished  a  work,  which  whoever  passes 
by  may  easily  behold.  It  has  had  an  ample  trial  — 
let  it  have  judgment  according  to  its  fruits. 


:P  O  E  Is/L: 


READ  AT  THE 


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